Penguins, Capitals brought out playoff intensity

WASHINGTON -- The calendar said Dec. 19 but the intensity and emotion the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals played with Wednesday made it feel like May.

That's when they have met in the Stanley Cup Playoffs each of the past three seasons, and maybe they'll see each other there again next spring. For now, they'll part until their final meeting of the regular season at Pittsburgh on March 12.
They'll have a lot chew on from this one, which the Penguins held on to win 2-1 at Capital One Arena.
RELATED: [Ovechkin streaks end, Capitals lose to Penguins | WATCH: All Penguins vs. Capitals highlights]
It wasn't the prettiest game, but the Penguins needed this kind of hard-fought win. The Capitals (20-10-3), the reigning Stanley Cup champions, are in first place by four points in the Metropolitan Division after winning their previous five and 12 of 14.
The Penguins (16-12-6) have 38 points to tie them with the New York Islanders, who have played one fewer game, for third place in the division.
"We've got to build on it," said captain Sidney Crosby, who scored the Penguins first goal and assisted on Bryan Rust's winner with 1:02 left in the second period. "It's a divisional game, a rivalry, and a team we've seen a lot. I think these games, these kind of intense, emotional games, bring out the best in us."

It started from the second shift of the game with a fight between Penguins defenseman Jamie Oleksiak and Capitals forward Tom Wilson. Oleksiak was injured, so the Penguins played the remainder of the game with five defensemen and said they rallied around him.
"Our guys knew it was going to be a spirited game," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "I thought our guys competed hard and they gave Jamie a big, rousing applause after the game, and he deserved it."
With goaltender Matt Murray making 31 saves, Pittsburgh killed off all five Capitals power plays. Ovechkin, who had 14 shot attempts, including five on net, saw his NHL career-best 14-game point streak and six-game goal streak end.
"It was an exciting game," Murray said. "It felt like every shot was a chance. Not many feelers, but that's seems to be the type of game we have against these guys. They're a heck of a team. You know they won last year for a reason. They gave us all we could handle."

Murray, who entered with a 5-5-1 record, a 3.95 goals-against average and .883 save percentage, has struggled at times this season, but has won two starts in a row after missing nine games with a lower-body injury.
"He really battled," Sullivan said. "I thought he made some timely saves for us at key times in the game. He gave us a chance to win. I thought he really competed hard."
Murray also got some help from his left post and his teammates in the third period. After an Evgeny Kuznetsov shot from the right circle trickled through Murray before hitting the left post with the Penguins clinging to their 2-1 lead 6:50 into the third period, Pittsburgh forward Riley Sheahan raced in to clear the puck away.
When another Kuznetsov shot from the right circle got through Murray and was rolling toward the goal line, Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson dove to sweep it away with 6:04 remaining.
"Murray had a pretty much point-blank shot there, so he made a great save and luckily I was close, and I saw the puck squeeze through him and made a dive for it," Pettersson said. "But it was a great save by him. [Kuznetsov] almost had a breakaway. Luckily I was close."

That was the kind of effort it took for the Penguins to win this game. Rust's winning goal wasn't pretty either. He batted in a bouncing puck in front that the Capitals weren't able to cover after goaltender Braden Holtby stopped Jake Guentzel's shot.
Regardless of how the goal went in the Penguins were happy to get it.
"We got some bounces that went our way too," Crosby said. "There were a couple that were lying around the crease. And they had two off the post. One that was laying back there."
After going 10-10-5 in their first 25 games, the Penguins are 6-2-1 in their past nine and feeling better about themselves as they head home to face the Minnesota Wild at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; ATTSN-PT, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV).
"I give our guys a lot of credit," Sullivan said. "Washington, obviously, is a good team and it was a hard-fought battle. I thought we found a way. It started with our goaltender and it worked out from there, but it worked out from everybody."