Sidney Crosby Records 2 Assists, Penguins Beat Rival Capitals 4-2
WASHINGTON (AP) — Danton Heinen, Brock McGinn and Kasperi Kapanen scored, Sidney Crosby had two assists and the Pittsburgh Penguins held on to beat the rival Washington Capitals 4-2 on Friday night.
The Penguins controlled the play for the first two periods, tilting the ice toward opposing goaltender Ilya Samsonov and sending several odd-man rushes his way. They cashed in on one of them when Crosby set up Kapanen to make it 3-0 midway through the second.
"It's still pretty awesome, to be honest," Kapanen said of playing with Crosby. He ended a five-game goal drought.
Evgeny Kuznetsov and Lars Eller scored in the third to cut the margin to one goal, but Jeff Carter scored an empty-netter with less than two minutes remaining to extend Pittsburgh's winning streak to three. Washington's brief two-game streak came to an end in the 85th NHL meeting between Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.
It was a potentially costly night for the Capitals, who lost top right winger Tom Wilson to an upper-body injury and played half the game with five defensemen after Martin Fehervary took a high hit from McGinn. Fehervary did not return after the hit, exiting with what the team also called an upper-body injury.
It was unclear exactly when Wilson was hurt, though he got tangled up with the Penguins' Marcus Pettersson and went sliding hard into Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry and the net during the second. Wilson skated three more shifts but did not come back for the third.
Jarry stopped 29 of the 31 shots he faced. Samsonov allowed three goals on 32 shots.
The Penguins got offense from each of their top three lines. Heinen scored on a tap-in off a pass from defenseman John Marino, McGinn's pass attempt banked off Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov's right skate and in, and the top line got it done with a textbook rush play from Evan Rodrigues, Crosby and Kapanen.
Ovechkin assisted on each Washington goal, extending his point streak to four games.
NOTES: Heinen has four points in two games. ... Pittsburgh played without winger Jake Guentzel for the first time since the opening night of the season. Coach Mike Sullivan called Guentzel "week to week" with an upper-body injury. Guentzel was riding a 13-game point streak. Center Brian Boyle took Guentzel's spot in the lineup after four games out as a healthy scratch. ... The Capitals played without forwards Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk, who are in NHL's COVID-19 protocol.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Return home to face the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night.
Capitals: Visit the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.
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