Ovechkin streaks end, Capitals lose to Penguins

WASHINGTON-- Alex Ovechkin did not score for the first time in seven games, and did not have a point for the first time in 15, when the Washington Capitals lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.

Ovechkin's 14-game point streak was his NHL career high. The forward, who was looking to tie his career-long goal streak, scored 10 goals in the previous six games.
"It was a hard-fought game by both teams and we didn't end up on the right end tonight," Washington coach Todd Reirden said.
WATCH: [All Penguins vs. Capitals highlights]
Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, and Matt Murray made 31 saves for the Penguins (16-12-6), who are 6-2-1 in their past nine games.
"I think when you play these game, these rival type games, there's an elevated level of emotion associated with it, and my experience of being around Sid is he's at his best in those situations," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said.

Lars Eller scored, and Braden Holtby made 28 saves for the Capitals (20-10-3), who had won five in a row. Ovechkin played 25:14 and took 14 shots, five on goal.
"It's always a battle out there against them and certainly it was ratcheted up a few notches from most other games I would say this season," Washington defenseman John Carlson said. "Stinks we came up on it the wrong side of it.
"I think we played good enough to give ourselves a chance but didn't really put ourselves over the top by any means."

Evgeny Kuznetsov's shot on a power play at 6:50 of the third period trickled past Murray, hit the post and stopped before Penguins forward Riley Sheahan cleared it.
At 13:56, a Kuznetsov shot trickled past Murray, but Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson dove and cleared it off the goal line as it was going in.
"He had a pretty much point-blank shot there, so [Murray] 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.

Eller gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 6:38 of the second period when he scored on a 2-on-1 off a pass from Tom Wilson. It was his first goal in 13 games.
Crosby tied it 1-1 at 9:15 when he deflected a pass from Evgeni Malkin.
Bryan Rust made it 2-1 with 1:02 left in the second when he knocked in a loose puck during a scramble in front of Holtby.
Pittsburgh was 1-for-4 on the power play; Washington was 0-for-5.
"Yeah it [kind of] shows how close the game was," Holtby said. "Obviously it was a strange play on that second goal, and then we have a couple that kind of leaked through them and off the post and the guy gets it on the goal line. Sometimes games come down to inches, like everyone says."

They said it

"I think these games, these kind of intense, emotional games bring out the best in us. We've got to turn the page quick, though, and focus on [Thursday] night. So I just try to build off this one, but understand we need that same intensity, same desperation every night if we want to win." - Penguins captain Sidney Crosby
"We knew it was going to be a healthy challenge and a competitive game, an intense game. It didn't take long to show that. It was lots of guys paying the price, blocking shots, making tough plays and taking hits to make plays in different times of the game. It was a hard-fought game by both teams and we didn't end up on the right end tonight." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden

Need to know

Penguins defenseman Jamie Oleksiak was injured and left the game in the first period. Sullivan did not have an update. ... Ovechkin is one goal from joining Mike Gartner as the only players in NHL history to begin a career with 14 straight 30-goal seasons (Gartner had 15).

What's next

Penguins: Host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; ATTSN-PT, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV)
Capitals: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Friday (7 p.m. ET: NBCSN, SN, TVAS, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)