Kapanen scores in OT, Penguins defeat Capitals for third straight win

WASHINGTON --Kasperi Kapanen scored at 1:43 of overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 3-2 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Tuesday.

Kapanen won it when he one-timed a pass from Teddy Blueger on a 2-on-1.
"I think they had a chance in our zone and kind of went along the boards," Kapanen said. "Teddy did a good job picking it up and I was trying to yell out that we have a 2-on-1 and he just found me really well. He faked a shot, gave it to me, and I just tried to go short side and [was] lucky enough it went in."
Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist, and Evgeni Malkin scored for the Penguins (10-6-1), who have won three in a row and five of their past six. Tristan Jarry made 20 saves.
"I thought it was one of our more complete games of the year," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "That's what I told the guys at the end of the game. I thought we were playing the game hard.
"We were trying to play the right way. It wasn't perfect by any stretch, but there aren't too many games that are."

Richard Panik and Conor Sheary scored for the Capitals (9-6-3), and Vitek Vanecek made 34 saves.
The teams play here again Thursday.
"We don't like losing to those guys," Washington forward Tom Wilson said. "These are big points, big games, and I think if we put a little more emphasis into the full 60-minute game, maybe we can get an upper hand and get a goal lead or something like that.
"That being said, if it goes to OT, we've got to get it done. But it's a bit of a crapshoot at that point."
Kapanen, who also had an assist, responded for the Penguins after he was benched by Sullivan in the third period of a 3-2 win against the New York Islanders on Saturday.
"I think it was a good time to have a conversation with him and kind of reset and look at the past games that I've played, which obviously haven't been good enough," Kapanen said. "Just kind of talking about what he expects out of me and to play with [Sidney Crosby] and Jake, it's obviously a privilege. I think our line played better today and I felt like I took strides forward in the right direction, but there's still room to improve."

Malkin gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 6:41 of the first period when he redirected a pass from Kris Letang.
The Capitals had two chances early on the power play but failed to score; they entered with a 33 percent success rate (15-for-45).
"We got them in the first period and we weren't very good 5-on-5, [then] we weren't very good on the power play," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said.

Panik tied it 1-1 at 4:38 of the second period when he took a pass at the blue line from Zdeno Chara, muscled his way past defenseman Mike Matheson and slid the puck by Jarry from the slot.
The Capitals took a 2-1 lead on Sheary's one-timer from the right circle at 13:18. The Penguins tied it 22 seconds later when Guentzel's deflected John Marino's shot from the right point at 13:40 to make it 2-2.
Pittsburgh outshot Washington 30-15 over the first two periods.
"I think tonight we kind of had a slow start. I don't know what it was, maybe heavy legs or something like that," Sheary said. "But I think we got going a little bit better in the second and then the third was kind of an even period I thought.
"I think we obviously will take a point, but we know we have better and we'll bring that on Thursday."
NOTES: Penguins forward Jason Zucker was being evaluated after he left the game at 10:03 of the third period with a lower-body injury. Zucker crashed into the boards near the Pittsburgh bench. ... Pittsburgh has won all eight regular-season games against Washington that have gone past regulation since Jan. 22, 2012. … Blueger has an NHL career-high four-game point streak (one goal, three assists). … Sheary, who played for the Penguins from 2015-18 and last season, has six goals and two assists in eight games against them with the Capitals and Buffalo Sabres.