Pittsburgh Penguins @ Washington Crapitals 4-3 - 02/25

The Pittsburgh Penguins lost their first three games against the Washington Capitals this season by a combined 10-1. Another regulation loss would have left the Penguins without a point in a season series with the Capitals for the first time ever. Pittsburgh finally found its offense against Washington, avoiding the sweep with a 4-3 victory at Verizon Center on Wednesday. Patric Hornqvist, Brandon Sutter, Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz scored for the Penguins (35-17-9). Evgeni Malkin had three assists, and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves. Pittsburgh and Washington each finished 1-for-6 on the power play.
John Carlson, Troy Brouwer and Alex Ovechkin scored for Washington (33-19-10), which is three points behind Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division. Goaltender Braden Holtby made 22 saves. The Penguins controlled play early, capitalizing on the Capitals' sloppy play. A Washington turnover led to a Kunitz breakaway, but Holtby snagged the Pittsburgh forward's backhand shot with his glove 42 seconds into the game. Before the Capitals' first shot on goal, the Penguins took a 1-0 lead at 7:04 on Hornqvist's 19th goal. As Malkin entered the zone, he left a drop pass for Hornqvist, who beat Holtby with a wrist shot from the right circle. The Capitals had three power-play opportunities in the first period, but failed to score despite several near-misses. As the third power play was about to expire, Sutter scored a shorthanded goal at 18:33, racing after Washington defenseman Matt Niskanen's errant pass and beating Holtby with a backhand. With 8.6 seconds remaining in the period, Carlson cut Washington's deficit to 2-1, firing a slap shot past Fleury. The Capitals took three penalties in the first 3:25 of the second period. Crosby scored on the power play at 3:16 with Washington forward Brooks Laich off for tripping. The Pittsburgh captain's 20th goal made it 3-1. In all, the Capitals gave the Penguins six power-play chances during the period, the most they've allowed in one period since Oct. 6, 2009, according to Elias Sports Bureau. After Fleury stopped Brouwer's tip-in chance on a pass from Jason Chimera, Brouwer batted his own rebound at 4:09 of the third period to make it 3-2. Kunitz responded at 7:12, boxing out Evgeny Kuznetsov, whose neutral-zone turnover started the play, and scoring on Blake Comeau's rebound to restore the Penguins' two-goal lead. Ovechkin beat Fleury on the power play at 16:26 for his NHL-leading 39th goal. Washington's attempt to tie the game with Holtby pulled in favor of an extra attacker was unsuccessful. Washington visits the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday. Pittsburgh hosts the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.

Pens Quotes

Mike Johnston: "I thought early in the series against them we had a lot of new people in the lineup. The last game (a 3-1 loss Feb. 17) was probably our best game against them, and then tonight we notched it up. To our credit, Washington ran around quite a bit, tried to get hits, tried to play outside their game. We just stuck to the way we needed to play. It was a good hockey game. A lot of emotion in the game. When you're entering the stretch run, getting that extra one or two power plays a game is very important. But I thought early in the game one thing we did well was they got three power plays in a row, and it didn't rattle our group. We just killed the penalties. We hung in there. We stuck with it, and you know eventually over time you're going to get a power-play chance."
Sidney Crosby: "We just needed to play better. I don't think we really put together a solid game against them up to this point. Kind of a weird game tonight with the power plays kind of switching back and forth first couple of periods. Good to get a win, score some goals and hopefully build off it."
Evgeni Malkin: "Of course because we know how good Washington [is], one of the most dangerous teams in the League. We lost the last three games, and this was chance to beat them tonight. We have more confidence right now."

Penalties

1st Period
08:13 WSH	Michael Latta  Roughing against  Blake Comeau
08:13 WSH	Tom Wilson  Roughing against  Steve Downie
08:13 PIT	Steve Downie  Roughing against  Tom Wilson
08:13 PIT	Blake Comeau  Roughing against  Michael Latta
11:47 PIT	Chris Kunitz  Hooking against  Karl Alzner
14:02 PIT	Kris Letang  Hooking against  Joel Ward
16:52 PIT	Sidney Crosby  Holding against  Tom Wilson
2nd Period
00:34 WSH	Joel Ward  Slashing against  Patric Hornqvist
02:44 WSH	Brooks Laich  Tripping against  Derrick Pouliot
03:25 WSH	Cameron Schilling  Interference against  Craig Adams
07:12 WSH	Jason Chimera  Holding against  Steve Downie
09:29 PIT	Paul Martin  Cross checking against  Brooks Laich
12:42 WSH	Tom Wilson  Cross checking against  Christian Ehrhoff
12:42 PIT	Rob Scuderi  Roughing against  Tom Wilson
12:42 WSH	Tom Wilson  Roughing against  Christian Ehrhoff
15:55 WSH	Cameron Schilling  Hooking against  Brandon Sutter
19:02 PIT	Blake Comeau  Slashing against  Alex Ovechkin
3rd Period
16:22 PIT	Marc-Andre Fleury  Roughing against  Joel Ward