Fluke goal leads Pens past Caps

Sidney Crosby's second goal of the game, a fluke tally with just 28 seconds left in regulation, proved to be the game winner in the Penguin's 4-2 win over the Capitals.  Watch Sid the Kid's winning goal

“That was officially heartbreaking,” Boudreau said. “I feel bad for Nick. He was doing everything that he could and ends up shooting it in his own net.”

Alexander Ovechkin assisted on power-play goals by Brooks Laich and Alexander Semin to increase his League-leading points total to 95, but he was once again foiled by Crosby, as the
Penguins improved to 10-1 against the Capitals when both players are in the lineup.

Petr Sykora also scored for Pittsburgh and Evgeni Malkin reached 92 points by assisting on three goals. But the big story was Crosby notching his first two goals since he had a pair at Atlanta on Jan. 12. Six days later, Crosby was injured early in a home game against Tampa Bay and missed his first significant amount of time as an NHL player.

“I’m not where I want to be,” Crosby said. “But I’m getting a better feel for things. The first couple of games, conditioning-wise, I wasn't there.”

Penguins coach Michel Therrien wants Crosby to take his time getting comfortable and said they talked earlier Sunday about “little things to help him to get his game better.”

“There’s no athlete that could come back to competition after such a long time being out of the game,” Therrien said. “There’s no doubt tonight that was the best performance I’ve seen since he’s been back.”

It wasn’t a bad effort by Marc-Andre Fleury, who made only his fourth start since returning from an ankle injury of his own. Fleury, pulled from his last outing against Florida, stopped 36 shots, including 20 in the second period alone.

After a scoreless first, the teams traded leads in a wide-open second. Laich got the Capitals started at 7:23 by redirecting Semin’s shot on the power play for his 17th of the season.
It took just 1:19 before Sykora scored his 22nd and drew the Penguins even. Off an odd-man rush, quick passes by Jeff Taffe and Malkin set up Sykora’s shot, which went in despite Laich getting his stick on the puck.

Crosby put Pittsburgh ahead for the first time with 1:52 left in the second, putting a rebound under Huet, who finished with 22 saves. Semin tied it just 14 seconds before intermission with Washington skating on a 5-on-3 advantage.

Huet stood tall in the third, when the Penguins enjoyed a 13-5 advantage in shots, and looked poised to get the Capitals to overtime and earn at least a point in the standings. It wasn’t to be, and after a lost weekend Washington’s playoff picture looks uncertain.

“Obviously, it puts a damper on it,” Boudreau said. “We still have a goal in mind of how many games we've had to win to get in the playoffs. Now we give ourselves less chance of error, that's all.”

Material from wire services and team media was used in this report.