Takeaways: Capitals Come Together, Steamroll Penguins For Huge Win Ahead Of Trade Deadline

It was a heavy day in what's been, overall, a heavy week for the Washington Capitals as they said goodbye to Joel Edmundson and continued the anxious countdown to the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline. But for 60 minutes in Pittsburgh, they were able to put it aside and come together for vital two points against the Penguins.

Alex Ovechkin and Hendrix Lapierre stayed hot, Ivan Miroshichenko scored his first NHL goal and multiple players had multi-point outings as the Capitals put together a full 60 en route to a dominant 6-0 win over the Penguins.

Here are all the takeaways from the win, which moves D.C. within five points of a playoff spot.

The Capitals also saw Ovechkin and Lapierre continue their respective hot streaks, as each picked up a goal while Ovechkin also added an assist en route to the victory.

Ovechkin ignited the power play in the second, crashing the crease and sneaking home a pass from Wilson to make it 2-0.

The 38-year-old now has 10 goals in his last 15 outings and 840 in his career, putting him 55 behind Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history. He has 18 this season and also added an assist for another multi-point effort.

It marked the team's sixth straight game with a power-play goal, and the PP has now converted in nine of the last 10 overall.

Later in the frame, Lapierre picked up a nice feed to the front from Trevor van Riemsdyk and would spin and score to give the Capitals a 4-0 lead. He now has four goals in five games since his latest call-up. He has been one of D.C.'s best players of late and has complemented Ovechkin well on the top line.

In addition to Ovechkin and Lapierre, Sonny Milano has been on a heater since returning from an upper-body injury that held him out for over two months, and he kept the momentum going on Thursday.

After helping set up Miroshnichenko's first NHL goal, Milano picked up his ninth of the season on a picture-perfect passing play by Alex Alexeyev and Dylan Strome. He now has goals in four straight outings and seven points in seven games since drawing back into the lineup.

With Anthony Mantha being shipped to Vegas earlier in the week, Ivan Miroshnichenko drew into the lineup and made the most of his opportunity with his first NHL goal.

Miroshnichenko got to the front of the net and picked up a broken feed to the front from Dylan Strome before taking the puck to the paint and sliding it past Alex Nedeljkovic, who relieved Tristan Jarry after Jarry gave up four goals on 22 shots.

It was an emotional moment for the 20-year-old, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma just two years ago and has since won his battle to live out his dream of going pro.

The Capitals also got another impressive game in net from Charlie Lindgren, who was not supposed to start but got the call with Darcy Kuemper out sick. Hunter Shepard backed up with Kuemper out.

Lindgren was calm and collected in the crease despite his name coming up in trade talks, handling the puck well, controlling the tempo and making some big stops when called upon time and time again.

He was also quick and made some key saves from in tight, and finished the night with 39 saves for his fourth shutout of the season.

The defense in front of him was also solid as Ethan Bear drew back into the lineup while Washington did a good job of shutting down the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson.

Washington was also perfect on the PK, going 4-for-4 and managing a shorthanded goal to boot to get D.C. off to a good start.

On an early penalty kill just seconds into the game, Malenstyn forced a turnover for a 2-on-1 with Wilson, who batted his own rebound off the post out of mid-air and past Tristan Jarry to make it a 1-0 game early.

Malenstyn and Wilson both added assists later on for respective multi-point efforts.

- Dylan Strome had three assists and has points in seven of his last eight games.

- Jensen's goal was his first in 59 games (April 11, 2023).

- Edmundson was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs before the morning skate in Pittsburgh.