WASHINGTON — Darcy Kuemper made 35 saves, and the Washington Capitals defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 in a shootout at Capital One Arena on Thursday.
“It was a huge two points for us. That’s not really a secret. We knew how big this game was coming into it,” Kuemper said. “These games feel really good when you get the job done. We played super hard, and we earned it tonight.”
Alex Ovechkin and Marcus Johansson scored in regulation for the Capitals (26-19-6), who had lost two straight. They moved one point ahead of Pittsburgh for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Kuemper stopped two of three shots during the shootout, allowing Rickard Rakell‘s goal in the first round and denying Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Yevgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom scored shootout goals for Washington.
“It’s always these kind of games against Pittsburgh. It’s a fun game to play because there’s a lot of emotion out there,” Backstrom said. “It was actually a great hockey game, I think, overall.”
Video: PIT@WSH: Backstrom scores shootout goal to win
Danton Heinen and Bryan Rust scored for the Penguins (24-15-9), who have points in six straight games (3-0-3). Casey DeSmith made 43 saves.
“Anytime you get a point, it’s a good point,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “It was a hard-fought point, I’ll tell you that.”
DeSmith bounced back after allowing six goals on 39 shots in a 7-6 overtime win against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
“I felt great tonight. I felt like myself,” DeSmith said. “I felt like I played my game, which I was really happy about. That was kind of my focus going in: just trusting my game, going out and playing it and thankfully I was able to do that.”
Ovechkin gave Washington a 1-0 lead at 6:00 of the first period with a power-play goal. He scored on a one-timer from the left face-off circle off a cross-ice pass from Kuznetsov.
Video: PIT@WSH: Ovechkin one-times opening PPG
Heinen tied it 1-1 at 2:37 of the second period. After Drew O’Connor‘s shot on the rush hit the post and bounced off Kuemper, Heinen reached behind the goalie and poked the puck in.
Johansson gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 5:17 of the third period when he received a drop pass from Backstrom and scored to the far side with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.
“It was a great play by Nick and I just tried to get as much ice as possible before I shot it, and I think it got lucky bounce and nicked off of [defenseman Brian Dumoulin]but I’ll take it,” Johansson said.
Rust tied it 2-2 when he scored over Kuemper’s left shoulder from the right circle on the rush at 12:52.
“We’ve done a pretty good job of just fighting and battling. It’s a nightly thing,” Crosby said. “We’ve got to make sure that we’re consistent, but we’ve been competing hard and finding ways and we’ve got to find another level here going into the stretch run.”
NOTES: Washington forward Conor Sheary, who began his career with Pittsburgh, played 18:09 and had three shots on goal in his 500th NHL game. … The Capitals have not lost three straight regulation games this season. … Crosby had an assist and has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in his past six games. … Rust has 300 NHL points (135 goals, 165 assists) in 472 games.
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