• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Malkin shines as Penguins rally to top Capitals

Dec 12, 2006 - 3:24 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- With all eyes focused on second-year standouts Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, rookie Evgeni Malkin stole the spotlight.

Malkin netted the clincher in the shootout after tying the game in regulation and Crosby had a goal and an assist as the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied from a four-goal deficit for a 5-4 victory over the Washington Capitals.

The game featured the first encounter of the campaign between Ovechkin, the reigning Calder Trophy winner, and Crosby, who finished second in the voting. The two both entered with 141 career points to rank among the league leaders since the start of last season.

"It's great for us," Crosby said. "We want to bring a lot of attention, but we were battling for a win. It's fun to see two young teams like that. The teams will improve as years go on."

Erik Christensen opened the shootout by scoring for Pittsburgh before Ovechkin tied it in the second round with his first shootout tally in 10 attempts. Malkin followed by lifting the puck over goaltender Olaf Kolzig in round three.

"He's done it a million times, I think," Crosby said of Malkin. "He looks so smooth out there. He does it in practice and he does it with ease in key situations. One-on-one with a goalie, I like our odds with him."

"(Malkin) played well," Capitals coach Glen Hanlon said. "He made a great move on the shootout. Obviously, his size allows him to be more mature beyond his years. He certainly has our attention."

Pittsburgh netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, who finished with 29 saves, preserved the victory by making a glove save on Washington captain Chris Clark as the Penguins defeated the Capitals for the fourth time in five encounters.

"It's a great comeback," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said. "We matched their intensity and we started skating with them."

"It was our mistake," Ovechkin said. "We scored goals and we stop playing. We (do) not concentrate in the defensive zone, and they shot and scored more goals. It's our fault. We go up 4-0 and we stop playing. It was too late in the third period when they score four goals to do something."

Malkin tied the game at 3:20 of the third period with his 15th goal when he pounced on a rebound of Ryan Malone's shot and stuffed the puck past Kolzig's right pad while falling in front of the crease.

"Sid was playing really good," Malkin said through a translator. "He gave a good pass and I finished it."

Crosby scored his 14th goal with 1:17 left in the second period when he wristed Malkin's cross-ice feed from the slot. His assist on Malkin's game-tying tally gave him 41 points this season.

After Kris Beech opened the scoring for Washington with a power-play goal at 5:10 of the opening period, Clark scored his first tally of the game 46 seconds later off a rebound of Ovechkin's shot from the right faceoff circle.

"We played well enough to get a four-goal lead," Clark said. "We should be playing well enough to keep a four-goal lead unless they changed something. We didn't try to back off or play too defensively. We just maybe got a little too greedy and got cute."

Clark struck again at 2:57 of the second session with a backhander under the crossbar after Fleury twice denied Ovechkin on the doorstep. It was his 12th goal of the season and his second multi-goal contest in four games.

"I think both teams have good offensive players," Fleury said. "You never know with those games. For a goalie, it's never good to have so many goals, but I'm just happy to get the win."

Brooks Laich gave Washington a 4-0 advantage at 5:55 of the second period before Maxime Talbot ignited Pittsburgh's comeback 54 seconds later with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle.

"I think it was fun to see the way we were chipping away," Crosby said. "We got those second two late in the second period, and we knew then we were back in the game. Any time you play as bad as we did in the first and you're able to bring it back up in the second and third, it's a good feeling."

Ovechkin collected a pair of assists to raise his point total to 37 and Kolzig stopped 31 shots for the Capitals.