Penguins 4, Capitals 0
Captain Sidney Crosby collected a power-play goal and an assist and Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside 18 shots to extend his franchise record to 25 shutouts as visiting Pittsburgh defeated Washington for the fifth straight time.
Defenseman Paul Martin and James Neal also scored and set up a goal and Beau Bennett added his first of the season. Evgeni Malkin notched a pair of assists for the third time in four contests for the Penguins, who snapped a three-game losing skid on the road and moved three points up on the second-place Capitals in the Metropolitan Division.
Martin opened the scoring 6:38 into the first period after his wrist shot from just inside the blue line beat Braden Holtby (36 saves), who was screened by Chris Kunitz. Bennett doubled the scoring just over five minutes later after accepting Malkin's feed before skating into the offensive zone and wristing a shot from the right circle that sailed inside the left post.
With Pittsburgh on the power play, Crosby padded the lead with 29 seconds remaining in the middle session after converting a brilliant tic-tac-toe play. The superstar snapped a sharp-angle shot from deep in the left circle that sailed under the crossbar for his second goal in as many games and 11th of the season.
Neal capped the scoring 7:16 into the third and Fleury needed to make just four saves in the session to preserve his second shutout of the season.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Capitals saw their three-game winning streak come to an end and fell for just the third time in 10 contests (7-2-1). ... Malkin increased his assist total to 19, moving him one behind San Jose captain Joe Thornton for the NHL lead. ... Washington D Mike Green missed his third straight game with a lower-body contusion.