April 1

On April 1, 1980, the Capitals thumped the Pittsburgh Penguins by a 6-2 score in front of 15,821 fans at the Capital Centre.

Bengt Gustafsson started the scoring parade at 8:31 of the first period when he beat Pittsburgh’s Greg Millen. It was the 22^nd goal of the season for Gustafsson, who was winding down his rookie season. The Capitals outshot the Penguins 14-4 in the first period but Gustafsson was the only player to light the lamp.

Paul Mulvey scored his 15^th of the year for Washington at 1:02 of the second. Pittsburgh’s Dale Tallon answered at 2:39 on a Penguin power play to halve the Capitals’ lead. Rolf Edberg scored his 22^nd for the Caps at 10:23 to restore the two-goal margin. Each team had nine shots on goal in the second period.

At 10:08 of the third period, Pittsburgh was whistled for two minor penalties at a time when they already had a man in the box serving a minor. Gary McAdam (roughing) was joined in the sin bin by Ron Stackhouse (slashing) and Rod Schutt (unsportsmanlike conduct). Washington took advantage of the resulting five-on-three advantage at 11:06 when Ryan Walter scored his 23^rd of the season to make it 4-1. Just 23 seconds later with the Caps still up two men, Mike Gartner made it 5-1 with his 36^th of the season. At 12:17, Pittsburgh still had a man in the box and Washington scored its third power play goal in a span of 1:11 to make it a 6-1 rout. Alan Hangsleben scored his ninth of the season, becoming the sixth different Capital to score. Pittsburgh’s Rick Kehoe added a meaningless power play goal at 17:34 to close out the scoring. The Capitals outshot Pittsburgh 16-8 for the period and 39-21 on the night.