Malkin gets 1,000th NHL point for Penguins against Capitals

PITTSBURGH --Evgeni Malkin got his 1,000th NHL point, and the Pittsburgh Penguins ended the Washington Capitals' winning streak at seven with a 5-3 victory at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.

Malkin, who had two assists, has 391 goals and 609 assists in 848 games. He is the 88th NHL player, and fifth Russia-born player, to reach 1,000 points.
"Like, finally. Last couple weeks I've been a little bit nervous," Malkin said. "It's like a little bit slow, but it's finally over, 1,000. I (can) breathe normally. Thanking my teammates. Special day for my family, my friends.
"I've played hockey all my life. It's amazing to be here and win here against Washington. A special day for sure."
RELATED: [Malkin reaches 1,000 NHL points | WATCH: All Capitals vs. Penguins highlights]
Sidney Crosby scored twice, Phil Kessel and Jared McCann each had a goal and an assist, and Matt Murray made 38 saves for Pittsburgh (38-23-9), which has won five of six and moved into third place in the Metropolitan Division, two points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Alex Ovechkin had an assist for his 1,200th NHL point, Jakub Vrana scored twice, and Braden Holtby made 25 saves for Washington (41-22-7), which leads the New York Islanders by two points for first place in the Metropolitan.

"It was a good run for us the last seven games," Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. "It's hopefully a good learning point for us to continue to grow moving forward here. We're still trying to build our group. ... We aren't going to do it by winning every game. You have to have some adversity with your new group."
Vrana gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead on a snap shot at 19:27 of the first period. He made it 2-0 at 10:24 of the second period when his shot deflected off Murray's blocker into the air before hitting the back of his skate and crossing the goal line.
"We had a good stretch, but every game is a new game for us," Vrana said. "Try to push and win every game. We had good momentum there, a good lead. We lost some momentum there for a little bit, get scored on. ... It's hard to get it back after that."

Jake Guentzel cut it to 2-1 at 12:37. After McCann stole the puck from Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov, he held off Brooks Orpik while driving to the net and set up Guentzel at the left post for his 35th of the season.
"Our bench got a foot taller after we scored that goal," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "You could see it in our play, in the energy we came with after that goal. It was a huge point in the game."
Crosby scored 47 seconds later to tie it 2-2, receiving a lofted pass from Justin Schultz and scoring five-hole on a breakaway. He gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead at 14:25 on a one-timer off a pass from Kessel on a power play. Malkin had the secondary assist on the goal.

Kessel extended the lead to 4-2 at 11:56 of the third period on a rebound off a slap shot from Schultz, who was set up by Malkin on a power play.
John Carlson cut it 4-3 at 14:02 with a power-play goal after a shot from Ovechkin bounced to him below the left circle, but McCann made it 5-3 on an empty-net goal with 56 seconds remaining.

They said it

"First 30 minutes, we were in charge. We played the game the way we wanted to play. I thought we gave this one away, to be honest with you. ... I don't know what else to say. Have to learn from it and move on." -- Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom
"I'm happy for [Malkin]. It was only a matter of time when he's this close, but that's a great milestone. He's done so much over the years." -- Penguins captain Sidney Crosby

Need to know

Capitals forward T.J. Oshie had two assists to reach 300 in the NHL. ... Capitals forward Carl Hagelin returned to Pittsburgh for the first time since being traded from the Penguins to the Los Angeles Kings on Nov. 14. Hagelin, who won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017, was acquired by Washington on Feb. 21 and received a tribute video during the first television timeout. ... Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese did not play with a lower-body injury sustained against the Boston Bruins on Sunday and is considered day to day. Forward Joseph Blandisi replaced him and had one shot in 3:50 of ice time after being recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Monday. ... There have been 110 players who have factored into Malkin's 1,000 points. Crosby has the most points (303) among those players, including 103 goals where Malkin has had an assist. He has also had an assist on 114 of Malkin's goals, and has combined with him to set up 86 goals from other players.

What's next

Capitals:At the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSP, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)
Penguins:At the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN, MSG-B, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)