Capitals score 8, pull away to defeat Penguins

PITTSBURGH -- Jakob Chychrun scored two of five second-period goals for the Washington Capitals in an 8-3 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.

Alex Ovechkin, who has 879 goals and is 16 from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894, had a five-game point streak end (nine points; four goals, five assists).

Dylan Strome scored to extend his point streak to an NHL career-high seven games, Martin Fehervary and Brandon Duhaime each had a goal and an assist, and Pierre-Luc Dubois had three assists for the Capitals (37-11-8), who extended their point streak to seven games (4-0-3). Logan Thompson made 29 saves.

“We were taking on water there for a good chunk of time,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “Then, it just flipped. I give our guys a lot of credit tonight because we didn’t have it and guys were fighting it. ... We were able to, mid-(second) period, flip that thing.”

Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang scored for the Penguins (23-26-9), who have lost three of four. Alex Nedeljkovic allowed five goals on 14 shots before being pulled in the second; Joel Blomqvist made 14 saves in relief.

“We beat ourselves in so many ways,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “When they got their fourth goal, it was a 3-2 game, I think it was 5:43 (remaining) in the second period, the shots were 19-9. We had twice as much offensive-zone time as we did in the defensive zone. We felt pretty good about where the game was at, even though we were down a goal.

“Then, we chased offense. And when you chase offense, and you don’t have a recognition of risk-reward, you end up giving your opponents easy offense. As a result, that’s what we get.”

Ethen Frank put Washington ahead 1-0 at 5:13 of the first period, when a pass from Andrew Mangiapane went in off his skate.

Letang tied it 1-1 on the power play at 18:21 with a one-timer from the left face-off circle. It ended a 21-game goal drought since Dec. 14.

Fehervary gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 1:10 of the second period with a wrist shot from the slot off a pass from Duhaime.

Crosby scored his 18th goal this season and fifth in six games, tying it 2-2 at 6:36 on a backhand. He was a game-time decision after playing a fourth game for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off on Thursday. He missed Pittsburgh’s final two games before the break because of an upper-body injury.

“It was definitely discussed, as far as how I felt and that sort of thing,” said Crosby, the Penguins captain. “But I want to play. And if I can play, I'm going to play. It's pretty clear-cut. Either you can or you can't."

Chychrun put Washington back in front 3-2 at 10:38, stick-handling around Vincent Desharnais for a wrist shot.

Chychrun then made it 4-2 at 14:17 with his 16th goal of the season, shooting past a screen from Tom Wilson, before Aliaksei Protas extended the lead to 5-2 eight seconds later on a wrist shot in the slot.

“We kind of lost a bit of momentum at the end of the first with a couple penalties,” Chychrun said. “We wanted to come out and just have a better effort in the second. We did that as a group.”

Protas, who reached 100 NHL points (36 goals, 64 assists), has 23 goals in 56 games this season, his fourth in the NHL. He had 13 total goals in 169 games in his first three seasons.

“It’s all about the boys,” Protas said. “So proud to go out there with them, all together every night.”

Wilson deflected a shot from Fehervary to push it to 6-2 at 18:05, scoring his career-high 25th goal of the season.

The goal came on the second shot Blomqvist faced.

“It’s a challenging situation to go in the middle of the game,” Blomqvist said. “Just tried to play my own game and go from there.”

Strome made it 7-2 at 13:11 of the third period with a wrist shot on the power play.

Danton Heinen cut it to 7-3 on a rebound at 14:22 before Duhaime scored at 17:19 for the 8-3 final.

NOTES: Wilson left after taking a hit from Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves midway through the third. Carbery said there is “a little bit” of concern regarding Wilson’s status for a game against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, but the injury isn’t expected to be serious. ... The Capitals scored five goals in a period for the third time this season. They scored five in the first period against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Nov. 2 and five in the third period at the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 9. ... Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin had an assist on Letang’s goal in his return from missing six games with a lower-body injury. ... Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson (assist) extended his point streak to six games (seven points; two goals, five assists). ... Longtime Penguins broadcaster Mike Lange was honored in a pregame ceremony. He died Wednesday at age 76.