WASHINGTON -- For a coach whose team just turned in what he described as its best performance since its recent swing through Canada, Mike Sullivan was not a happy man Wednesday night. At all.
As they say in Marshfield, Mass., Sully was wicked ticked.
Ticked about the ejection of Evgeni Malkin in the third period. Ticked about the sheer volume of penalties his team took. Mostly, he was ticked that his team's effort in a 2-1 loss to the Capitals went unrewarded.
In a playoff-like atmosphere at Capital One Arena against the team that ended Pittsburgh's quest for a three-peat, the Penguins dropped their fifth in a row, their longest streak of futility since Dec. 11-19, 2015, one that included the first four games of Sullivan's tenure after taking over for Mike Johnston.
"I thought our guys played extremely hard. They deserved a better fate tonight," Sullivan said in one of his few answers that went beyond a word or three. "I thought we were better in all areas. I thought we played with way more urgency. I thought we won puck battles. I thought we stopped on pucks. I thought we got the puck to the net. We went to the net. We were better in so many areas."
All of which was true.
For 58 minutes and 46 seconds, Sullivan's Penguins were unquestionably the better team. They outshot Washington, 42-22. They dominated possession with a 63-37 Corsi For advantage.
But with 1:14 remaining in the third period, the Penguins let a point -- and possibly two -- get away when T.J. Oshie, in the most remarkable return from the dead in 2,000 years or so, broke a 1-1 tie.
"We've got to be better, still have to play 60 minutes," said Sidney Crosby, who matched old nemesis Alex Ovechkin power-play goal for power-play goal. "We did a lot of good things and we can build off of that ... But we've still got to find a way to get points or at least get a point in this case."
The winning-goal started with 1:34 remaining when Sullivan had two centers on the ice but opted to have Riley Sheahan, not Crosby, take the defensive zone draw. Sheahan lost the faceoff to Evgeny Kuznetsov but the Capitals were able to gain possession after the Penguins forced a turnover but failed to clear the zone. Jamie Oleksiak had a chance but didn't. Bryan Rust had a chance but couldn't.
Instead, John Carlson fed Oshie streaking for the net who beat hard-luck loser Casey DeSmith to the top shelf:
"I was kind of looking around the short side, because Ovechkin was in front tied up with somebody," said DeSmith, who was outstanding in making 20 saves, eight of them while short-handed. "I was a little flat-footed there. I didn't get a good read and a good pushover. I definitely could have gotten close to that one. Maybe made a better read I think."
But perhaps what Sullivan was most ticked about was his decision to have Sheahan take the faceoff in the first place. For all of Sullivan's strokes of genius in Wednesday's game — starting DeSmith over Matt Murray and mixing up his lines and power play units — this one came back to bite him. Crosby had won 68 percent of his draws Wednesday while Sheahan had won just 29 percent.
That the Penguins would lose on Oshie's even-strength goal was an ironic -- and cruel -- twist of fate.
They entered the night as the NHL's second-least penalized team at 6:50 per game. But on Wednesday the Penguins gave the Capitals six opportunities with the man advantage over 12:19, 3:51 of which came on Malkin's match penalty for his controversial hit to the head on Oshie at 3:27 of the third. (It was a 5:00 major, but the Penguins had 1:09 remaining on a power play).
That's not sound strategy against anyone let alone against the Capitals, who possessed the league's No. 1 power play, which had been converting at a 36.6 percent clip.
However, the Penguins' 11th-ranked penalty kill, which had given up four goals on their last 13 chances, was simply outstanding. They allowed Ovechkin's power play goal at 7:09 of the second period to tie the game, but that was in Ovechkin's wheelhouse.
And that was it. The PK, which killed off Malkin's major with ease, was the only reason that the Penguins were in a position to even dream of earning a point.
"We had more penalties than we would have liked to have to take, but that was the game," said Jack Johnson, who logged 6:23 short-handed. "We didn't have a choice. We had a lot of penalty kills, had to step up and had to do a good job against a great power play."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THREE STARS
My curtain calls go to …
1. T.J. Oshie
Capitals right winger
Twice came back from injury, then scored the game-winning dagger.
2. Braden Holtby
Capitals goaltender
Made 41 saves. As good as he was, his posts might have been even better.
3. Casey DeSmith
Penguins goaltender
The Penguins' best penalty-killer was just that. He might have earned another start Saturday.
THE GOOD
The Penguins wanted energy from their fourth line. Well, they got exactly that from Zach Aston-Reese and Garrett Wilson, who were recalled from Wilkes-Barre a day earlier.
The two were thrown into the fire on a nationally-televised game against the defending champions and gave a strong account of themselves.
"That's the best way to do it too, honestly," Aston-Reese told me. "What do they say, baptism by fire? It was a good test for us tonight."
They combined for five hits and three shots. They were strong on the forecheck and possessed the puck for a 58.92 Corsi For percentage.
"Felt good about it," said Aston-Reese, who played 1:22 short-handed. "Me and Willy came in and just talked about keeping it simple and tried to get pucks to the net and taking the body. Having (Matt Cullen) in between us, he's such a veteran presence, kept us calm and I think we played pretty well. Thought we were pretty effective tonight."
Wilson, who went scoreless in 34 previous NHL games and none since 2016, had a chance to win the game on a breakaway at the 9:57 mark of the third period, but was denied by Holtby.
"Yeah, we talked about it," Aston-Reese said with a small smile. "Just tried to tell him to turn the page, but Holtby made a good save on him. I thought he was going to go backhand shelf. He does that down at Wilkes."
THE BAD
Way, way too many penalties, including Malkin's hit on Oshie. Read about that in the Hertz Drive to the Net.
THE PLAY
For reasons not totally clear, maybe it's the contract or perhaps it's the unflattering advanced statistics, Johnson has been a lightning rod for criticism by many in the fanbase since signing with Pittsburgh.
Some of the criticism is warranted, to be clear. He's a minus-7, worst among the defense corps. His 46.17 Corsi For percentage is among the bottom third on the Penguins as he'd been on the ice for 95 shots for and 117 shots against.
But on a team that has collectively struggled of late, Johnson wouldn't rank in the top five of their biggest problems.
The 32-year-old has certainly shown a few flashes. One of those moments came at 12:16 of the first period. With the Penguins on the power play, unveiling their latest version of the No. 1 unit, Johnson made two good plays to get the Penguins on the board.
Johnson moved down from the point to intercept Dmitry Orlov's weak clearing attempt. Then, with his back to Holtby, he backhanded a pass over to Crosby at the right circle. Crosby's one-timer hit Holtby's shoulder and went in:
It was Johnson's third point in 14 games with the Penguins and second assist on a Crosby goal.
THE CALL
True to his word Sullivan mixed things up but not as drastically as some feared following Tuesday's practice.
In fact, he did split Crosby and Malkin on the top power play --- but just once. And that actually resulted in Crosby's goal. The usual No. 1 unit went 0-for-2 and looked as lost as before with just one shot.
While much was made about how Phil Kessel would be used and with whom, Kessel played 17:26, or 36 seconds less than his season average. Given the Penguins' constant march to the penalty box, that's about as much time as he could have hoped for.
Most interestingly, Kessel played about as much with Malkin (3:57) and Crosby (4:37) as he did Sheahan (4:05). Obviously, though, the amount of time he played with Crosby stands out most. Save for the power play, those two have rarely seen the ice together the last 3 1/2 seasons. Stay tuned if we see more of that.
While DeSmith was strong in net and Aston-Reese and Wilson brought some much-needed sandpaper to the fourth line, the Penguins lost. The bottom line is they have now scored just two goals in their last three games.
THE OTHER SIDE
If Wednesday night was proof of anything it's that the Penguins and Capitals can bring out the best and worst in each other.
Both 6-4-3 teams were desperate for a win and it showed in the frenetic pace of the game. But it was the Capitals who got the win thanks to Oshie's heroics, giving them their first two-game winning streak of the season.
“Playing a top-tier team, that’s fun,” Matt Niskanen said. “No offense to some teams, but yeah, there’s not a whole lot of excitement there at some points in October. But they count the same.”
Though Ovechkin hasn't aged as gracefully as his Pittsburgh counterpart, nor is he seriously considered in the "best in game" debate, the Conn Smythe winner can still elevate on a big stage.
In addition to his goal, Ovechkin provided a screen on DeSmith on Oshie's game-winner.
Ovechkin has now won 31 of his 72 career matchups against Crosby. He has 46 goals for 83 points against Crosby's Penguins, who has 34 goals and 96 points against Ovechkin and Co.
THE INJURIES
• Derick Brassard, forward, missed his sixth straight game with a lower-body injury. He is on IR and is yet to resume skating.
• Justin Schultz, defenseman, is expected to miss four months after fracturing his leg Oct. 13 in Montreal.
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins had been scheduled to practice Thursday in Cranberry, but that was canceled in the wee hours after this game. The next practice now will be Friday at 11 a.m. at the Lemieux Complex. The next game is Saturday night against Rick Tocchet's Coyotes at PPG Paints Arena.
THE COVERAGE
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