Evgeni Malkin stole the puck from Anthony Mantha for a breakaway and scored with 1:20 left in regulation Saturday as the Pittsburgh Penguins recovered from blowing a three-goal lead to top the visiting Washington Capitals 4-3.
Ryan Poehling, Chad Ruhwedel and Jake Guentzel also scored for the Penguins (36-27-10, 82 points), who moved to within a point of the New York Islanders for the top Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Pittsburgh goaltender Casey DeSmith, making his career-high 31st start of the season, made 31 saves.
Dylan Strome had a goal and an assist, and Tom Wilson and Alex Ovechkin also scored for the Capitals (34-32-8, 76 points).
Washington goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 36 saves.
At 10:10 of the second, Poehling gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead. He forced a turnover in his own end, then took a pass from Danton Heinen while racing through the neutral zone. Poehling sped slightly past defenseman Rasmus Sandin for a quasi-breakaway and flipped the puck over Kuemper’s glove.
Ruhwedel, a defensive-minded defenseman who had not scored this season, upped it to 2-0 at 12:17 of the second. He took a feed from Jason Zucker near center ice, moved across the blue line and avoided Sandin to shoot the puck over Kuemper’s glove from the inner edge of the right circle.
With 2:57 left in the second, Pittsburgh’s Josh Archibald and Sandin fought.
Less than a minute later, DeSmith made a left pad save on an Ovechkin breakaway.
On a power play that carried over, Guentzel got behind everyone for a breakaway and slipped the puck under Kuemper’s pads for a 3-0 Penguins lead 27 seconds into the third.
Wilson cut it to 3-1 with a wraparound goal during four-on-four play at 5:19 of the third.
On a power play at 13:18 of the third, Ovechkin sliced it to 3-2 with a bomb of a one-timer from the top of the left circle off a feed from John Carlson.
Strome tied it with 2:44 left in regulation on a third rebound with DeSmith scrambling and out of position.
–Field Level Media
