NOTES: The Rangers are 15-19 at hom | Forum
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Aug 1 '19
WASHINGTON -- The NHL wanted to provide plenty of Sidney Crosby vs. Arthur Zagre Paris Saint-Germain Jersey . Alex Ovechkin by moving the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals into the same division. The league couldnt separate them again fast enough for the Capitals given the Penguins recent domination. Pittsburgh beat Washington 4-0 on Wednesday night at Verizon Center, the fifth straight victory in the series, to maintain first place in the Metropolitan Division. Barring a sudden and unexpected change of structure, the Capitals would love to start finding answers as to why the Penguins have their number. "Based off tonight we know we have some work to do in order to rebound our next game against them," Washington goaltender Braden Holtby said. "We feel we have the players in here that are capable of beating them. Its just a matter of putting together a 60-minute game where were all on the same page and doing things we need to do to win." Instead, the Penguins did just about everything necessary to blow Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals out of their own building. They jumped out to a strong start, got two points apiece from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and a shutout from lightly tested goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 18 saves. "I think this was as complete a game as we played," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. "We came out and pushed the pace, the speed of the game. ... The second half of the game was a team effort: how we played the game, managed the puck and shut them down." Bylsma used the word "smothering" to describe his teams all-around defensive effort. The Penguins outshot the Capitals 40-18 overall and perhaps more importantly 34-10 at even strength. Washington at one point had a 9:22 shot drought and midway through the game put more pucks on net short-handed than five-on-five. Thats not typically a path to success, and Capitals coach Adam Oates blamed an overall lack of execution. "Obviously you have to give them some credit, they played a very good hockey game," Oates said. "We got behind early and (its a) tough team to catch up (against), and they didnt give us anything." Getting ahead and clamping down was something the Penguins took a great deal of pride in. Crosby, who passed St. Louis Blues forward Alex Steen to take sole possession of the NHL points lead with a power-play goal and an assist, pointed to the strong start as something that set the tone for the whole night. That Pittsburgh (14-8-0) started well was not a surprise, but they had something tangible to show for it when defenceman Paul Martin beat Holtby with a seemingly-harmless shot from the blue-line just 6:38 into the game. Rookie Beau Bennett made it 2-0 a few minutes later, and the Penguins went into the first intermission with a 17-6 shot advantage despite the Capitals spending over four minutes on the power play. "I dont know if we expect to hop out to that kind of shot advantage, but certainly the pace and how we played was excellent," Bylsma said. "We got some real good scoring opportunities." The Capitals got some of their own in what Crosby called a "50/50" second period. The teams traded chances back and forth, like when Fleury stopped a driving Ovechkin and Holtby, who finished with 36 saves, denied Crosby from point-blank range soon after. But when Washington couldnt break through, the Penguins made the best of a late second-period power play. Malkin controlled the puck along the boards before setting into motion quick passes from Chris Kunitz to James Neal to Crosby, who scored from an almost-impossible angle at the side of the net. "Its high execution, its great movement, set up there to start by Geno," Bylsma said. "Its a sharp, sharp angle, but its an awesome power-play goal." By the time Neal made it 4-0 in the third period, the Penguins were well on their way to locking things down and building a three-point lead atop the Metropolitan Division. It was the kind of loss the Capitals want to just throw out after winning seven of 10 going into Wednesday night. "That was a pretty ugly game, and it might just be one of those ones that we need to forget," defenceman Karl Alzner said. "The only reason wed watch (the tape) maybe is to look and see how bad we were." Plenty was built into this game, with first place on the line. It was the first time the Penguins and Capitals were facing each other as division rivals since 1993. Fleury, who recorded his 25th career shutout and second this season, took more joy in holding on to first than beating the Capitals. "Its always a good rivalry with them, but the thing we have to focus on is the win," he said. During their five-game winning streak against Washington, the Penguins have scored 21 goals to the Capitals nine. Theyve also won the past five games Crosby has played in dating to 2011. Worried about now, Oates was less concerned about the standings than about what the loss felt like. "Its more of a measuring stick," he said. "Youre playing against your rival, its a big game and thats part of being a pro. Hopefully it deflates you right because you know its a deflating feeling in there right now." NOTES -- Malkins career-worst goal drought reached 15 games, but he finished with two assists to make it 19 on the season. ... Washington defenceman Mike Green missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury. He could return Friday when the Capitals host the Montreal Canadiens. ... The Capitals power play, which entered the game ranked second in the league, went 0 for 3. Alphonse Areola Jersey . Rockies manager Walt Weiss was unhappy, too. Weiss addressed the issue in a 15-minute meeting with his pitcher and catcher after the Rockies gave up 14 hits and lost 10-1. De La Rosa lasted only 4 1-3 innings and allowed five runs in his first opening-day start. Gianluigi Buffon Paris Saint-Germain Jersey .A. Happs hold on a spot in the Blue Jays starting rotation is in question.ARLINGTON, Texas -- Christian Yelich kept coming up to bat in big situations. And the young leadoff hitter kept coming through for the Miami Marlins. Yelich set career highs with four hits and four RBIs, including the go-ahead two-run single in the seventh inning, as the Marlins beat the Texas Rangers 8-5 on Tuesday night for their record-tying 13th consecutive interleague victory. "Oh really, thats awesome, I guess," Yelich said about the streak, after first asking what it was. "I guess we just like playing (AL teams) and play well against them." The 13-game interleague winning streak matched the major league record shared by the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, who both reached that mark in 2004. The Marlins, 8-0 vs. American League teams this season, wrap up their quick two-game set in Texas on Wednesday. "Its one of those baseball things you probably cant figure out," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. "Im sure theres probably somebody a lot smarter than me that can figure it out, but we just go out there and try to win a ball game." Yelichs single in the seventh inning sent home two unearned runs and put the Marlins ahead to stay, after the Rangers had taken the lead with a four-run sixth. There was also his tiebreaking two-run double in the fourth and the hustling double in the sixth when he scored on Casey McGehees two-out hit. "That was a great play, a big momentum-builder for us," Redmond said. "Anytime you can press the issue with base runners, you put pressure on them and it fires the guys up." Bryan Morris (5-0), the third Marlins pitcher, struck out two in 1 1-3 scoreless innings. Steve Cishek worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for his 15th save in 16 chances. Texas right-hander Jason Frasor (1-1) was responsible for the two unearned runs while facing four batters. Miami took advantage of second baseman Rougned Odoors fielding error on a potential double play in the seventh when Yelichs two-out single made it 6-5. Arthur Zagre Jersey. "In the end, we didnt play the defence we were capable of playing. That hurt us," manager Ron Washington said. "We fought hard to get back into that game but we shot ourselves in the foot." Garrett Jones drove in two runs for the Marlins, including his RBI double in the eighth right after the Rangers committed two errors on one play, when Giancarlo Stanton went from first to third on a ball hit to left and then scored on the miscues. Texas went ahead 5-4 after their sixth-inning outburst capped off when Brad Snyder, called up from Triple-A Round Rock earlier Tuesday, scored from second base when Odor beat out a slow chopper for an infield single. Marlins starter Tom Koehler struck out seven through five innings, but the right-hander then allowed the first four batters to reach in the sixth, including a bases-loaded walk to Snyder, before Robinson Chirinos had his second sacrifice fly of the game. Yelich doubled off the base of the wall in centre field for a 3-1 lead in the fourth off Colby Lewis, after Justin Bour had a single and Jeff Mathis drew a walk to start the inning. Mathis might have been out at the plate if shortstop Elvis Andrus relay throw hadnt been cut off near the mound by Snyder, who was playing first base in the major leagues for the first time. An outfielder before playing his last two Triple-A games at first base, Snyder came up when Mitch Moreland (left ankle) was put on the 15-day disabled list. NOTES: The Rangers are 15-19 at home, including 2-6 on this homestand after coming off their longest trip of the season with a 7-4 record. ... Miami had 14 hits and left 13 runners on base. ... Texas has a majors-high 13 players on the DL. ... Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre had multiple hits for the seventh time in eight games. ' ' '
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