Evgeni Malkin scored a tiebreaking goal in the third period and had an assist as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the host Washington Capitals 4-2 on Friday.
Malkin put Pittsburgh on top 3-2 at 10:28. Bryan Rust sent a backhand from the goal line to Malkin in front, and he quickly snapped it blocker side.
The Capitals had a chance to tie it on a power play with less than five minutes to go but couldn’t beat goalie Joel Blomqvist, who denied Tom Wilson from the slot and then held off Taylor Raddysh point blank.
Erik Karlsson had a goal and an assist, Michael Bunting and Noel Acciari also scored and Blomqvist made 32 saves for Pittsburgh, which had lost two straight and eight of 10 (2-6-2).
Rasmus Sandin and Andrew Mangiapane scored for the Capitals, who had their seven-game home winning streak snapped. Charlie Lindgren stopped 28 shots.
Karlsson gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 3:11 of the first period. Malkin took the puck around the back of the net to the right wall before sending it through the seam to Karlsson, who had jumped up into the slot and snapped it past Lindgren.
Bunting doubled the lead off a rush at 6:59 of the opening period. After Bunting fed Karlsson across the ice in the neutral zone, Karlsson took it to the half-wall and sent it back to an onrushing Bunting, who extended his stick to beat Lindgren glove side.
The Capitals responded soon after to cut the deficit in half. Connor McMichael led a rush up the ice before dishing off to a trailing Sandin, who roofed a snap shot from the left circle short side at 8:22.
Washington pushed in the second, jumping out to a 5-1 shot advantage 4 1/2 minutes into the frame.
The hosts were rewarded at 6:04 when Mangiapane tied it 2-2. Jakub Vrana carried the puck up on a two-on-one break, feeding a backhand over to Mangiapane for a quick shot that beat Blomqvist under his left arm.
Acciari scored an empty-net goal with 23 seconds left in the third period.
–Field Level Media
