Ovechkin, Crosby tied for NHL goals lead
The stakes were low Tuesday night at Mellon Arena. Neither the Capitals nor the Pittsburgh Penguins have much to play for at this point in the NHL season. Both will be in the playoffs next week. Both will have a high seed and home-ice advantage in the first round.
But that doesn’t make games between the two teams any less entertaining. Five different Caps scored and — playing their second game in as many nights and a defenseman short for most of it — they held off a Pittsburgh rally in the third period for a 6-3 win.
Washington (53-15-12, 118 points) won all four games against the Penguins (45-27-7, 97 points) this season, including two that went beyond regulation. They swept the season series from Pittsburgh for the first time. That does little to erase the haunting memories that linger at Mellon Arena for the Caps, where they have an all-time record of 42-67-7-1. But it was a nice little bonus in case it was the last game they will play there. The Penguins open a new arena in the fall.
Alex Semin set a career high with his 39th goal of the season. Mike Knuble and Tomas Fleischmann also scored. Washington added a goal from its fourth line late in the second period when Matt Bradley tipped home a pass from teammate Quintin Laing.
Star forward Sidney Crosby and defenseman Jordan Leopold both scored for the Penguins. For a time, Crosby extended his goals lead over Caps forward Alex Ovechkin with an NHL-best 48th. Leopold scored twice, including a tally just 49 seconds into the third period to cut the Washington lead to 4-3.
The Caps chased Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury in the second period — the final straw an easy goal for Fleischmann at the 6:42 mark. Pittsburgh fought back, however. Leopold’s second goal brought his team to within 4-3 with plenty of time left. But just 1:48 later Ovechkin scored on the power play after a faceoff win by teammate Nicklas Backstrom. That was Ovechkin’s 47th of the year and restored Washington’s advantage to two goals. He later added an empty-netter with .2 left to tie Crosby for the NHL lead.
