WASHINGTON — Evgeni Malkin scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 4-2 Friday night in the 95th NHL game between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.

With all eyes on Crosby and Ovechkin, Malkin set up Erik Karlsson’s goal at 3:11 of the first period, then scored the game-winner with 9:32 remaining. With 18 points, Malkin is the leading scorer for the Penguins, who won for the sixth time in 16 games this season after getting a goal from Michael Bunting assisted by Karlsson and 32 saves from rookie Joel Blomqvist.

Noel Acciari, who swept the puck off the goal line to save a goal earlier, sealed it into an empty net with 22.9 seconds left.

Rasmus Sandin and Andrew Mangiapane scored for the Capitals, whose seven-game home winning streak ended. Charlie Lindgren made 28 saves, several of them spectacular, in a losing effort.

Takeaways

Penguins: Karlsson answered coach Mike Sullivan’s call with two points in the first seven minutes. The three-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman may be past his prime at age 34, but he can still show flashes offensively.

Capitals: Things were going so well that it was due to a little regression, which was accompanied by a few misses while the net was wide open.

Key moment

At the end of Washington’s third and final power play, Blomqvist stopped two Taylor Raddysh shots in two seconds.

Key statistic

The Capitals went 0 for 3 on the power play, failing to score in more than five minutes. They are 2 for their last 40 meetings dating from October 17.

To be continued

The Capitals visit St. Louis on Saturday and the Penguins enjoy the weekend before hosting Dallas on Monday night.

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