WASHINGTON _ The Penguins have had some memorable moments in their recent history at the expense of Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals.
Wednesday night, he got one back on them.
Ovechkin scored his 1,000th career point _ and didn't stop there _ on a goal 35 seconds into the game as the Capitals cruised to a 5-2 victory over the Penguins.
Ovechkin said before the game he didn't care which team he got his 1,000th career point against. He just wanted to get the milestone over with and move on.
He certainly didn't take long.
The goal came with Ovechkin on a 2-on-1 with longtime teammate Nicklas Backstrom. Ovechkin slid past Penguins' defenseman Kris Letang and fired a shot from the low slot that beat Marc-Andre Fleury's glove and sent the Verizon Center into a state of pandemonium.
There was the initial standing ovation, which elicited a wave and a nod from Ovechkin on the bench. Then there was the goal announcement, which brought the fans to their feet once again. Finally, there was the montage of career highlights, which brought another round of cheers and another wave from Ovechkin.
Ovechkin became the 84th NHL player to reach the 1,000-point plateau, and the 34th to do it all with one team.
Ovechkin has the second-most career goals of any 1,000-point scorer (546) and is the 24th-fastest player to reach the milestone in league history.
He didn't linger on 1,000 very long, though, netting point No. 1,001 on a power-play goal in the second period from a familiar spot on the left faceoff circle.
With Carl Hagelin in the box for hooking, Ovechkin took a feed from John Carlson and ripped a one-timer past Fleury to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead at 8:06 of the second period.
Of Ovechkin's 1,001 career points, 49 have come in his 47 career games against the Penguins. His 20 goals against Fleury are tied for the second-most he has scored against any NHL goalie.
The Penguins managed to keep Ovechkin off the scoresheet for the rest of the night, but couldn't generate enough of their own offense to mount a comeback.
Justin Williams and Backstrom added third period goals to give the Capitals some insurance, which they ended up needing as the Penguins found some offensive life in the game's final minutes.
Evgeni Malkin got one goal back for the Penguins, on the power play, to cut Washington's lead to 3-1 at 7:46 of the third period.
After Backstrom's goal re-established the Capitals' three-goal lead, Patric Hornqvist beat goalie Braden Holtby from in close on a feed from Sidney Crosby to cut the lead to two goals at 17:24 of the final period.
Lars Ellers' empty-net goal with 18 seconds left, which bounced off Kris Letang's helmet and in, ended any long-shot hopes of a Penguins' comeback.
The Penguins, though, couldn't overcome a sluggish offensive start. They outshot the Capitals 32-29 on the night, but only Malkin's and Hornqvist's got past Holtby. Crosby was held without a shot for just the second time this season.
Holtby finished with 30 saves on the night. He has given up three goals on the last 114 shots he has faced, a stretch spanning four games.
Despite the four goals allowed, Fleury was otherwise solid in net for the Penguins, stopping 25 shots to keep the Penguins in the game for most of the night.
The loss was a slight improvement over the Penguins' last trip here, a 7-1 loss Dec. 16. Still, being outscored 12-3 over two games in a venue they could very well revisit in this year's playoffs isn't exactly a positive development for these Penguins, who have otherwise hit few speed bumps this season.
The loss sends the Penguins behind the Capitals in the Metropolitan Division standings. The two teams will meet again Jan. 16 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
First, though, the Penguins will travel to Ottawa, where they will take on the Senators on Thursday night on the second leg of their ninth set of back-to-back games this season.
