Sidney Crosby scored his 20th goal of the season, Evgeni Malkin added three assists, and the Pittsburgh Penguins held on to beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3, on Wednesday night, averting a sweep of the season series.
Patric Hornqvist, Brandon Sutter and Chris Kunitz also had goals for Pittsburgh (35-17-9), which has won its last three games and leads Washington by three points for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Alex Ovechkin scored on the power play for his league-leading 39th goal of the season, while John Carlson and Troy Brouwer both had a goal and an assist for the Capitals (33-19-10), who won the first three meetings by a combined score of 10-1.
Ovechkin’s power play tally made it 4-3 with 3:34 left, but Fleury made several saves on 6-on-5 in the final minutes to preserve Pittsburgh’s win.
Fleury, who finished with 21 saves, entered with a 1.63 goals-against average in his last 11 starts. Washington’s Braden Holtby, meanwhile, had 22 saves.
Both teams converted one of six power plays, but Pittsburgh added a short-handed goal.
Trailing 3-1 after two periods, the Capitals pulled to within one when Brouwer swatted in his own rebound at 4:09 of the third.
Pittsburgh regained its cushion just over three minutes later, however, after Malkin stripped the puck from Evgeny Kuznetsov and started a rush that ended with Kunitz scoring off a rebound.
Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead at 7:04 of the first period, before the Capitals registered a shot.
Malkin carried in and dropped the puck back to Hornqvist in the right circle. He fired a shot past Holtby to the far side for his 19th goal.
Shortly after the first goal, a four-man scrum spilled into the Penguins bench area and put two players from each team in the penalty box for roughing.
Sutter’s short-handed goal made it 2-0 at 18:33. Washington’s Matt Niskanen dropped the puck back, and it sailed all the way into the Capitals zone. Sutter got to it first and scored on a backhand.
Washington got within 2-1 in the final minute of the first when Carlson’s one-timer beat Fleury with 8.6 seconds left.
The Penguins took a 3-1 lead in the second, cashing in on one of their six power plays in the period when Crosby, using a pair of Capitals for a screen, sent a wrist shot past Holtby from the right circle at 3:16.
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