Penguins can't complete rally vs. Capitals as 3-game winning streak ends

Having worn the colors of both sides of the rivalry, Lars Eller can articulate the decades-long feud between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals with an educated perspective.

“It’s a divisional game,” said Eller, currently the Penguins’ third-line center. “A rivalry game. There’s going to be high emotions on both sides. Equal points in the standings. There is a lot on the line for both teams. Both teams are fighting for playoff spots.

“Emotions are going to be there.”

The Penguins’ emotions were presumably nowhere good after Tuesday as they were beaten by the Capitals, 4-3, at PPG Paints Arena. The defeat snapped a modest three-game winning streak for a team that was beginning to make progress within the confines of the division.

A slow start was too much for the Penguins to overcome Tuesday.

They yielded all of the Capitals’ offense in the first period and despite a valiant but futile charge in the final 40 minutes and 4 seconds, particularly by Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, the hosts came up short.

“We definitely had a slow start,” Crosby said. “They get a bounce on one. We get one that’s offside by a small amount. The start wasn’t great, but we still had our chances for it to be an even game and lots of time to get back into it.”

Capitals forward Tom Wilson did not waste much time opening the scoring as he claimed his 11th goal only 55 seconds into regulation.

Off a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone by defenseman Rasmus Sandin, Wilson barged into the offensive zone on the right wing. With Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves applying a generous gap in resistance, Wilson lifted a wrister from the right circle to the far side that beat goaltender Tristan Jarry, who waved his blocker at the puck in vain. Sandin and defenseman Ethan Bear had assists.

Graves was directly involved in another play that gave the Capitals a two-goal lead at 11:16 of the first period.

With Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson making an ill-timed pinch in the neutral zone, Capitals forward Nic Dowd chipped a puck forward, allowing linemate Beck Malenstyn to gain entry into the offensive zone on the left wing. With Graves using his lengthy stick to present an impediment, Malenstyn ended up forcing a pass attempt off of Graves’ stick blade that hopped up over Jarry’s right shoulder on the near side. Malenstyn was credited with his fourth goal with Dowd getting the lone assist.

The hole got deeper only 1:14 later when Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary scored his second goal.

In the Penguins’ right corner, Fehervary beat Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph to a loose puck and circumnavigated the offensive zone like Vasco De Gama. By the time he claimed the high slot, Fehervary wired a wrister that beat Jarry’s right leg. Linemates Dylan Strome and Hendrix Lapierre tallied assists.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan made the decision to pull Jarry for backup Alex Nedeljkovic and called a timeout to realign his sluggish outfit. Jarry finished with four saves on seven shots.

“I don’t think (Jarry) had his best, but I didn’t think the team had its best early in the game,” Sullivan said. “For me, that’s the moral of the story. I loved our compete level and climbing back into the hockey game. We certainly made it a game, but we can’t spot a team those types of goals early on.”

That goalie change appeared to pay dividends early as defenseman Chad Ruhwedel seemingly scored his first goal of the season, only to have it wiped out after the Capitals issued a successful coach’s challenge claiming the sequence to be offside.

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin scored a legal goal, his eighth of the season, on a power-play sequence at 19:18.

Taking a pass at the left point of the offensive zone, Sandin dished it to the opposite point for Ovechkin, who lofted a wrister by Nedeljkovic’s blocker on the far side. Graves, along with Capitals forward Aliaksei Protas, appeared to screen Nedeljkovic during the sequence. Assists went to Sandin and forward Anthony Mantha.

In total, Graves was on the ice for three-fourths of the Capitals’ goals.

Graves, who was dropped to the third pairing during the third period, was blunt in assessing his own play.

“The fourth goal, the power-play one, I should have boxed him out,” Graves said. “Or fronted it. One of the two. I don’t know. Sometimes, it’s bounces. It’s a mixture. It’s not always bounces. It’s yourself too. You can’t just think it’s bounces. You’ve got to look inward.

“You can’t be on for three goals (against) regardless. It’s inexcusable.”

The Penguins finally broke through in the dying seconds of the opening frame at the 19:56 mark via forward Rickard Rakell’s third goal.

After Crosby made a determined effort to maintain possession of a puck in the Capitals’ slot, Karlsson controlled it above the right circle and then fed a short-area pass to Rakell, who muscled a one-timer by goaltender Darcy Kuemper’s blocker. Karlsson and Joseph claimed assists.

Crosby willed in his 21st goal of the season during a power-play sequence 9:11 into the second period.

Accepting a pass above the left circle of the offensive zone, Penguins forward Jake Guentzel glided forward and snapped a pass to the far side of the crease where Crosby leaned down and deadened the puck with his left calf, causing it to hop up off of his left elbow. As Capitals defenseman Nick Jensen crashed on top of him, Crosby managed to swat the fluttering puck with enough emphasis to send it into the cage. Assists went to Guentzel and forward Evgeni Malkin.

Another resolute display by Crosby led to his team’s third goal at 18:54 of the second period.

Chasing after a dump-in onto the Capitals’ end boards, Crosby knocked Sandin off the puck (and his skates) then fed a pass from the right of the crease to the backdoor where Guentzel jabbed in a forehand shot for his 17th goal. Crosby and Rakell registered assists.

The Penguins had two power-play opportunities within the final 14:23 of regulation but couldn’t pull even.

“We didn’t give up a ton (of opposing scoring opportunities) to try to get back in it,” Crosby said. “We were pretty smart that way. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get that tying goal. That’s what (stinks), to battle back like that and come up short.”

Making 14 saves of on shots, Nedeljkovic was on the short end of this result as he absorbed the loss, dropping his record to 6-3-3.

“Just one game,” Nedeljkovic said. “I’m sure we’ll watch some video on it tomorrow and learn from the bad, take some good and move on to the next one. We got (a road game against the Boston Bruins) in two days. So, it’s a short memory for us.”

There’s plenty of reason for the Penguins to forget about their start Tuesday.

“There’s no reason or excuses,” Graves said. “We just need to be ready. Obviously, when you dig yourself a hole like that, it’s hard to climb out of it.”

Notes:

• Penguins rookie defenseman John Ludvig was scratched due to an undisclosed injury. Sullivan indicated Ludvig was “a bit banged up.”

Ludvig was a full participant in the morning skate and even took rushes with Ruhwedel, his regular partner.

• Ludvig was replaced by Joseph, a scratch for the previous six games, including the two most recent due to illness.

Joseph even replaced Graves for several shifts on the second pairing with Karlsson in the third period. In total, Joseph logged 16:21 of ice time on 24 shifts and had one assist, one shot on one attempt and blocked one shot.

• Crosby (1,540 points) surpassed former forward Joe Thornton (1,539) for 12th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

• Rakell has seven points (three goals, four assists) in seven games since rejoining the lineup Dec. 18 after recovering from an undisclosed injury.

• Penguins forward Radim Zohorna was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game.

• Penguins forward Reilly Smith appeared in his 800th career game.

• Nedeljkovic had never faced the Capitals in his career before Tuesday.