WASHINGTON _ The Penguins, thanks to Matt Murray, won Round One.
The 25-year-old goalie made 29 saves, several of them spectacular, Sunday as the Penguins defeated the Washington Capitals, 4-3, at Capital One Arena.
Sunday was the first time the Penguins played their Metropolitan Division rivals from D.C. They'll butt heads three more times in the final 30 games. And with the way these two teams are playing, another playoff showdown looks likely.
The first-place Capitals entered the day with a six-point lead in the standings. Alex Ovechkin, who recently passed Mario Lemieux on the NHL's all-time scoring list, is on track for another 50-goal season. Blue-liner John Carlson could hit 100 points and win the Norris Trophy. Rookie goalie Ilya Samsonov has impressed.
The Penguins, meanwhile, went 8-3-1 in January and with Sunday's win improved to 19-5-1 in their last 25 games. Their 19 wins since Dec. 4 lead the league.
Murray, making his first start since Jan. 19, had to be sharp from start to finish. He fought off a Garnet Hathaway shot on a 3-on-2 a few minutes in. He made nine saves in the first period, including a point-blank pad save on Evgeny Kuznetsov. During the second, he squeezed his pads to stop a Jakub Vrana breakaway.
Kuznetsov scored a fluky goal six minutes into the third period to pull the Capitals within a goal. His shot hit Marino's skate and popped over Murray's left pad.
Murray did some of his best work after that goal. He stopped 11 shots in the third, including a sprawling save with his left arm on Ovechkin with 6:18 left.
Brandon Tanev scored with 2:33 left to give the Penguins, who spent much of the third period chasing around the surging Capitals, a two-goal lead. But it took the Capitals only 15 seconds to pull back within a goal. Eller stepped around Kris Letang then fired a shot through Jack Johnson's legs, off of iron and in.
There were a few more anxious moments but the Penguins escaped with a win.
The Penguins went 0-for-7 on the power play after scoring two power-play goals in Friday's 4-3 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers. In their previous seven games, they had eight power-play goals, tops in the NHL since Jan. 12.
The Penguins led, 2-1, after one period. They answered Lars Eller's opening goal with two of their own in a span of 54 seconds. Sam Lafferty snapped a wrist shot on the rush over Samsonov's right shoulder for his first goal in 17 games. Then Patric Hornqvist redirected a John Marino shot past the Capitals goalie.
After Samsonov stopped Crosby, Dominik Simon swatted a backhand between his legs midway through the second period to push the lead to 3-1. It was Simon's third goal in seven games since Crosby returned to the Penguins lineup.
Sunday's game marked the 50th time that Crosby and Ovechkin, a pair of future Hall-of-Famers picked first overall in back-to-back drafts, faced each other during the regular season. The first matchup was Nov. 22, 2005, when Crosby tallied two points in a Penguins win. Including playoffs, they have met 75 times.
The Penguins next play Thursday when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning.
