This Date in Caps History - December 14

On December 14, 1991, the Washington Capitals put a 7-2 hurting on the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Igloo in Pittsburgh.

Sylvain Cote opened the scoring for Washington with a power play goal at 2:32 of the first period. Seven minutes later, Dino Ciccarelli's 17th of the season made it 2-0, Washington. Kelly Miller closed out the first period scoring with his sixth goal of the season to enable the Caps to skate into the dressing room with a 3-0 lead at the first intermission. Pittsburgh held a narrow 12-11 edge in shots in the first.

Dale Hunter scored the lone goal of the middle frame. Hunter connected on a power play at 15:07 for his eighth goal of the season. The Penguins again outshot the Capitals, 13-10.

Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr beat Washington goaltender Mike Liut at 1:48 of the third to spoil the shutout. The Penguins' Larry Murphy scored against his former team at 8:57 to close the gap to 4-2. At 11:25, the Capitals answered back. Dmitri Khristich netted his 16th of the season to give the Caps a 5-2lead. Less than two minutes later, Mike Ridley's 13th of the season restored Washington's four-goal advantage. With 49 second left in the game, John Druce scored a power play goal to close out the scoring. The Caps outshot the Pens 12-8 in the third. The two clubs each managed 33 shots for the night.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins would go on to win a second Cup the following spring. But the Caps had great success against the Pens during the 1991-92 regular season. Washington won five of the seven meetings between the two clubs and outscored the mighty Penguins by a 35-21 count. Included among the Washington wins was an 8-0 drubbing in Pittsburgh on October 29 and a 6-2 win at USAir Arena on November 15.