Penguins win 8-7 to end Capitals streak at nine

PITTSBURGH -- Many words could accurately describe the Pittsburgh Penguins' 8-7 overtime win against the Washington Capitals at PPG Paints Arena on Monday.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby labeled it a "wacky one." Multiple Capitals players used "weird." Washington coach Barry Trotz went with "interesting."

They were each correct.
WATCH: All Capitals vs. Penguins highlights
Conor Sheary scored 34 seconds into overtime after Evgeni Malkin scored a hat trick to help the Penguins end the Capitals' nine-game winning streak.
"It was a crazy game," Malkin said. "We had a slow start and it's not our game. Seven goals is too much. We still need to work on playing D-zone better and on taking no bad penalties, like me on the first shift. … It's maybe a little bit of a fun game. Fun for forwards, but not goalies."
Sheary shoveled a shot between Philipp Grubauer's pads and off defenseman Matt Niskanen before it crossed the goal line.
After the Penguins took a 7-5 lead in the third period, T.J. Oshie made it 7-6 at 9:29 and Lars Eller scored his second goal to tie it with 5:22 remaining.

The Penguins (27-11-5) ended a three-game losing streak. Washington (29-9-6) lost for the first time since Dec. 29.
"It wasn't great on both parts. There were 15 goals today," Trotz said. "Both teams weren't very good. They were good at scoring, but not defending. …. I liked our resilience on coming back."
Malkin's three goals highlighted a nine-goal second period, when Pittsburgh scored six.
Trailing 3-0, Pittsburgh scored three goals in 2:27 to tie it before Bryan Rust and Malkin scored two more to take a 5-3 lead with 5:23 left in the second.
Malkin cut Washington's lead to 3-1 with his first goal. Trevor Daley passed to Malkin at the top of the right circle, where he dropped to one knee and one-timed a slap shot past goalie Braden Holtby 6:28 into the second.
Crosby found Sheary in front of the crease with a slap pass off of a rush to make it 3-2 at 7:12 in the second.
Bonino capped the flurry with his seventh goal of the season, tying it 3-3 at 8:55 of the second.

After Rust made it 4-3 at 13:37 and Malkin followed to give Pittsburgh a two-goal lead 50 seconds later, Grubauer replaced Holtby, who made 21 saves.
Penguins goalie Matt Murray made 21 saves in his second start back from a lower-body injury.
Brett Connolly cut Pittsburgh's lead to 5-4 with 4:53 left in the second.
Eller tied it 5-5 with 3:06 remaining in the period before Malkin scored his third goal of the period to give the Penguins a 6-5 lead with 2:42 left.
Malkin tied Jean Pronovost for fourth in Penguins history with 316 NHL goals.
Pittsburgh previously scored six goals in a period against the New York Islanders on March 21, 2000, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

Crosby made it 7-5 with his NHL-leading 27th goal 5:55 into the third period.
"It's kind of weird the way it works out sometimes," Crosby said. "We felt like we had to work really hard to generate offense the last few games and tonight, you get some bounces and bury some chances, and it's a different story."
Andre Burakovsky scored at 7:06 of the first period and Nicklas Backstrom scored at 17:09 to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead. Justin Williams pushed it to 3-0 at 1:17 of the second.

Goal of the game

Crosby charged to the net and whacked at the puck before Sheary sent the rebound past Grubauer for the game-winner. Crosby finished with four points (one goal, three assists).

Save of the game

With Pittsburgh leading 6-5, Bonino went on a 2-on-1 with Sheary early in the third period. He attempted a pass through Washington's crease, but Grubauer poked it away at 3:18.

Highlight of the game

Malkin's third goal came after Patric Hornqvist fell into the crease, which knocked Grubauer out of position. Malkin shot over Grubauer's pad. Washington challenged for goaltender interference, but it was ruled Capitals forward Daniel Winnik caused Hornqvist to collide with Grubauer.

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Unsung performance of the game

After being recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Monday, forward Jake Guentzel led the Penguins with six hits in his sixth NHL game.

They said it

"I think that the thing that we're most pleased about is just the resilience. You get down three goals to a real good team like that, and I thought at that particular point in the game, the game could've went one of two ways. That could've turned into a rout quickly." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"All around, it was like a 1988 Smythe Division game out there, I think." -- Capitals forward Justin Williams
"There were about probably four or five turning points. … They had spurts of momentum where they just completely dominated and then it seemed we would score on our first chance right after that. So, a lot of stuff going on. Kind of a head-scratcher." -- Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen

Need to know

Malkin surpassed Kevin Stevens for the second-most hat tricks (11) in Penguins history, behind Mario Lemieux (40). … Capitals defenseman John Carlson did not play because of a lower-body injury, but is expected to return against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. …. Penguins defenseman Kris Letang is week-to-week because of a lower-body injury sustained against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. He has four goals and 23 points in 30 games this season. … Pittsburgh defenseman Ian Cole played his 300th NHL game.

What's next

Capitals: At the St. Louis Blues on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, FS-MW, CSN-DC, NHL.TV)
Penguins: At the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, RDS, ROOT, NHL.TV)