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PrintMONTREAL -- The Penguins went to a lot of trouble to try to get to Washington after their 5-3 loss to Montreal at the Bell Centre Saturday.
Their plan was to fly to Newark, N.J., then take a 200-plus mile bus ride to Washington. There was no way of accurately projecting how long the trek -- it normally takes about four hours -- would take under the snowbound conditions they were facing on much of the route.
They can only hope that making it in time for their game against the Capitals at 12:08 p.m. today was worth the effort.
The way Washington has been playing lately, however, that's far from certain.
Game: Penguins at Washington Capitals, 12:08 p.m. today, Verizon Center.
TV, radio: WPXI, WXDX-FM (105.9).
Goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury for Penguins; Jose Theodore for Capitals.
Penguins: Are 5-1 in past six regular-season visits to Verizon Center. ... C Sidney Crosby has 9 goals, 18 assists in 16 career games against Capitals. ... Penguins have killed 29 of 33 power plays in past six games.
Capitals: Have won team-record tying 10 consecutive games at home, where they are 22-3-3. ... LW Alex Ovechkin has at least one goal in each of past four games. ... Are only NHL team to be above .500 when allowing first goal, going 14-6-2.
Hidden stat: Capitals are 6-0-1 when allowing 40 or more shots.
Consider that the Capitals:
• Own a franchise-record 13-game winning streak, matching the longest in the NHL since the Penguins ran off a league-record 17 in a row near the end of the 1992-93 season.
• Are outscoring opponents, 62-29, during their surge.
• Have been held to three goals just twice during those 13 games, while allowing opponents to get as many as three only four times.
• Outscored other teams, 28-6, in the third period during their surge.
• Have given up the first goal in seven of those 13 victories, and are 14-6-2 on the season when their opponent scores first. They are the only NHL team to be over .500 when that happens.
Suffice to say, the Penguins recognize that there's nothing fluky about this string of victories.
"When you're winning that much, it's not just luck," left winger Matt Cooke said. "It's a team effort, and you're playing well."
Saturday's game began ominously for the Penguins when, on the first shift, Montreal's Mathieu Darche slammed into goalie Marc-Andre Fleury behind the goal line, knocking Fleury off his feet and giving Tomas Plekanec an empty net to shoot into just 29 seconds after the opening faceoff.
Darche's hit looked to be a textbook violation of Rule 69.1, which reads, in part, that "Goals should be disallowed only if ... an attacking player initiates intentional or deliberate contact with a goalkeeper, inside or outside of his goal crease."
It seemed obvious, both in real-time and on replays, that when Fleury went behind his net to play the puck, Darche moved in to play the body on Fleury.
"Guys who saw the replays said I got slew-footed," Fleury said. "But the ref said I lost balance by myself, and it was my fault."
Snow forced postponement of a game between the Penguins' Wilkes-Barre/Scranton team and Hershey, Washington's American Hockey League affiliate.
It was scheduled to be played in Hershey Saturday night, but was pushed back to 1 p.m. today.
The Penguins' ECHL affiliate in Wheeling, W,Va., however, didn't let the storm prevent it from playing Kalamazoo, Mich., at WesBanco Arena last night. Fact is, the Nailers took some exceptional steps to make it happen.
After their bus broke down near Pittsburgh Saturday during the return from a game in Elmira, N.Y. Friday night, players were shuttled by the carload to Wheeling so they would be in town in time for the game.
Toronto defenseman Hal Gill, who wore No. 2 while playing for the Penguins, has switched to No. 75 this season because Montreal has retired his old number in honor of Doug Harvey.
He didn't settle on his current one because he happened to be born in 1975, however.
"That was my first number in Boston," Gill said. "They gave it to me in camp and when I made the team, they asked me what number I wanted.
"I said I didn't really care, that 75 was good. They made me change it halfway through [that season]."
Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
