Capitals’ Nine-Game Win Streak Ends With Thrilling 8-7 OT Loss To Penguins

Evgeni Malkin got a hat trick and Conor Sheary scored 34 seconds into overtime to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a wild, 8-7 overtime home victory over Washington on Monday, thus snapping the Capitals’ nine-game winning streak.

Capitals’ Nine-Game Win Streak Ends With Thrilling 8-7 OT Loss To Penguins

“It was a crazy game,” Malkin said. “We had a slow start and it’s not our game. Seven goals is too much. We still need to work on playing D-zone better and on taking no bad penalties, like me on the first shift. … It’s maybe a little bit of a fun game. Fun for forwards, but not goalies.”

Many other players on both teams echoed Malkin’s sentiment that the game was thrilling.

Sheary pushed a shot between goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer’s pads and off defenseman Matt Niskanen before it crossed the line.

After Pittsburgh gained a 7-5 lead in the third period, T.J. Oshie made it 7-6 at 9:29 and Lars Eller scored his second goal to tie it with 5:22 remaining.

With the come-from-behind win, the Penguins (27-11-5) ended a three-game losing streak. The Capitals (29-9-6) lost for the first time since Dec. 29.

“It wasn’t great on both parts. There were 15 goals today,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “Both teams weren’t very good. They were good at scoring, but not defending. …. I liked our resilience on coming back.”

Trailing 3-0 in the nine-goal second period, Pittsburgh scored six goals in the frame and three goals in 2:27 to tie it before Bryan Rust and Malkin netted two more to take a 5-3 lead with 5:23 remaining in the second.

Malkin trimmed Washington’s lead to 3-1 with his first goal. Trevor Daley fed Malkin at the top of the right circle, where he fell to one knee and one-timed a slap shot past goalie Braden Holtby 6:28 into the second.

Sidney Crosby found Sheary in front of the crease with a slap pass off a rush to make it 3-2 7:12 into the second.

Nick Bonino then tied it 3-3 for Pittsburgh with his seventh goal of the season at 8:55 of the second.

After Rust made it 4-3 at 13:37 and Malkin scored 50 seconds later to give the Penguins a two-goal lead, Grubauer replaced Holtby, who made 21 saves.

Penguins goalie Matt Murray made 21 saves in his second start back from a lower-body injury.

Brett Connolly trimmed Pittsburgh’s lead to 5-4 with 4:53 remaining in the second.

Malkin tied Jean Pronovost for fourth in Penguins history with 316 NHL goals. Malkin also surpassed Kevin Stevens for the second-most hat-tricks (11) in Penguins history, behind Mario Lemieux (40).

Pittsburgh previously scored six goals in a period against the New York Islanders on March 21, 2000, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

Crosby made it 7-5 with his NHL-leading 27th goal 5:55 into the third period.

“It’s kind of weird the way it works out sometimes,” Crosby said. “We felt like we had to work really hard to generate offense the last few games and tonight, you get some bounces and bury some chances, and it’s a different story.”

Andre Burakovsky scored at 7:06 of the first period and Nicklas Backstrom netted at 17:09 to give Washington a 2-0 lead. Justin Williams pushed it to 3-0 at 1:17 of the second.

After being recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL on Monday, forward Jake Guentzel led the Penguins with six hits in his sixth NHL game.

The Capitals next visit the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, while the Penguins will visit the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 11: Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins moves the puck in front of Dmitry Orlov #9 of the Washington Capitals in the first period at Verizon Center on January 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)