Holtby wins 200th game as Capitals stymie Penguins
WASHINGTON -- Braden Holtby made 27 saves to notch his 200th career victory, and defenseman John Carlson had a goal and an assist as the Washington Capitals defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Friday night.
Washington's T.J. Oshie scored the go-ahead goal, his seventh of the season, in the second period, and Chandler Stephenson added an insurance goal when he beat Matt Murray from the slot off a pretty backhand pass from Nicklas Backstrom with 6:18 left to play.
Jakub Vrana added an empty-netter as Holtby won his fifth straight start for Washington (9-7-1). The Capitals have permitted three or fewer goals in seven straight games.
Phil Kessel was credited with the Penguins' goal. Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, playing in his 800th career game, was held without a goal for the tenth straight game.
Murray stopped 27 shots for Pittsburgh (9-7-2)
Washington came in with just an 18 percent success rate on power plays, but converted on 2 of 6 attempts.
Washington took the lead on a power-play goal at 14:09 of an evenly played first period on a pretty passing sequence. Alex Ovechkin fed the puck across ice to Evgeny Kuznetsov, who sent it back to Carlson. Carlson's low shot deflected off the stick of Pittsburgh's Tom Kuhnhackl and past Murray.
It was just Washington's third home power-play goal of the season.
Pittsburgh tied it at 8:26 of the second when Kessel's attempted pass across the slot to Evgeni Malkin was kicked into the net by Washington defenseman Dmitri Orlov, who was attempting to break up the play.
The Penguins Kris Letang was called for a double-minor with 14:10 left in the period and Pittsburgh nearly killed if off before Oshie redirected Carlson's shot past Murray with one second left on the power play.
NOTES: Holtby, playing in his 319th career game, became the second-fastest goaltender in NHL history to reach the 200-win level. Montreal's Ken Dryden did it in his 311th appearance. ... Pittsburgh F Sidney Crosby became the third player in franchise history to appear in 800 games, joining Mario Lemieux (915) and Jaromir Jagr (806). ... Friday's game began a 29-day span in which the Capitals will play 11 of their 14 games at home. ... Capitals F Tom Wilson has recorded penalty minutes in four straight games. ... The Penguins were minus assistant coach Mark Recchi, who is in Toronto and will be elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday night. Recchi has the 12th-most points in NHL history (1,533). ... Washington evened the season series 1-1.