The Penguins were treated with good news even before the game began when the lineup came out and both Brian Dumoulin and Chad Ruhwedel were in the lineup to maintain the defensive consistency the team has enjoyed since mid-November.
The first period was marked with action and two penalties a piece by Daniel Sprong and Jake Guentzel to give some action. First, though, Washington had to weather a goalie injury. Vitek Vanecek started but would only play the first 6:43 of the game. Vanecek was involved with a collision with Kasperi Kapanen, the latter tripped by a Capital while driving to the net.