Rust breaks tie midway through 3rd for Pittsburgh; Ovechkin has 2 assists for Washington
Capitals at Penguins | Recap
PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby scored two power-play goals for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who recovered from blowing a three-goal lead to defeat the Washington Capitals 5-3 at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.
Bryan Rust scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and had two assists, Ben Kindel had two assists, and Arturs Silovs made 28 saves for the Penguins (9-4-2), who also blew a 3-0 lead in a 4-3 loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.
“Credit to the guys,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said. “We were just in this situation three days ago. It would’ve been really easy for this group to cave, it would’ve been very easy for this group to play back on their heels, to play worried. I thought we came out in the third period and we did the things we needed to do to win the game.”
Alex Ovechkin had two assists after scoring his 900th NHL goal in a 6-1 win against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, and Dylan Strome had a goal and two assists for the Capitals (7-6-1), who have lost five of six (1-4-1). Charlie Lindgren made 26 saves
“You have to give yourself a fighting chance to get into the game,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “We just failed to do that tonight. So, when you do that, you lose momentum right away in the hockey game.”
Pittsburgh allowed three straight goals before Rust gave it a 4-3 lead at 11:16 of the third by redirecting a pass from Evgeni Malkin on the power play.
WSH@PIT: Rust throws the puck into the irons for PPG
Connor Dewar scored an empty-net goal at 17:56 for the 5-3 final.
“Unfortunately, we had some experience with it rather recently,” Rust said of blowing a three-goal lead. “But I think being able to come in here after the second, kind of regroup a little and say, ‘Hey, like, we need to be a whole lot better,’ our puck management needed to be a whole lot better, and I thought we were better in the third and we were able to find a way.
“Hopefully we learned our lesson. Hopefully these things don’t continue to happen.”
Crosby put the Penguins ahead 1-0 on a power play at 2:22 of the first period, scoring with a wrist shot from the right circle off a set up by Kindel. He then made it 2-0 with another power-play goal, his sixth this season, by tapping in a rebound under Lindgren at 11:32.
WSH@PIT: Crosby knocks in his second PPG of the game
Crosby has 11 goals in 15 games this season, which is tied with Anaheim Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier for the League lead.
Anthony Mantha extended the lead to 3-0 at 2:08 of the second period with his seventh goal of the season, a backhand on the rebound of a shot from Tommy Novak.
Strome cut it to 3-1 at 9:41, taking a pass from Ovechkin and scoring with a wrist shot over Silovs’ glove.
“I thought it’s kind of the story of our season so far,” Strome said. “We were great 5-on-5 for the most part. Obviously, give up the two on the kill and get back in the game 5-on-5 in the second. Can’t capitalize in the third on the power play and they do. So, we’re a great team on 5-on-5. Right now, our special teams isn’t good.”
Ryan Leonard seemed to score for Washington at 14:17, but the goal was overturned after Aliaksei Protas was ruled offside following a challenge by Pittsburgh.
However, Rasmus Sandin did score on a wrist shot from the left circle 38 seconds later to pull the Capitals to within 3-2 at 14:55.
WSH@PIT: Sandin buries one from Strome and Oveckhin
Tom Wilson tied it 3-3 at 19:55, collecting a loose puck outside the crease for a shot just inside the right post.
“It’s not good enough, obviously,” Wilson said. “We didn’t give ourselves a chance from the start. … I think we got behind the eight ball early. Showed some character to get back in it and then just kind of continued to shoot ourselves in the foot.”
NOTES: Crosby and Ovechkin met for the 99th time in the regular season or Stanley Cup Playoffs. Crosby has 127 points (48 goals, 79 assists) and Ovechkin has 103 points (53 goals, 50 assists). Each recorded a point while playing against each other for the 49th time. … Crosby required the third-fewest games (15) to reach 10 goals in a season by a player age 38 or older in NHL history, behind Gordie Howe (12 games in 1967-68) and Ovechkin (14 games in 2024-25). … Pittsburgh was 3-for-5 on the power play. Washington was 0-for-3.
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