Alex Ovechkin scores in Capitals' victory against Penguins

King Jemison, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Apr 11, 2026

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — Saturday’s showdown between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals was billed as potentially one of the final meetings between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.

Instead, Ovechkin spent more time on the ice at PPG Paints Arena with Joona Koppanen.

With Pittsburgh clinching a playoff spot and home-ice advantage Thursday, Crosby was among several prominent Penguins who did not play Saturday.

Ovechkin scored an empty-netter as part of the Capitals’ 6-3 victory against a severely short-handed Penguins squad.

Pittsburgh was already locked into the second seed in the Metropolitan Division.

The Penguins’ list of scratches would have been a pretty formidable team in its own right.

Crosby (lower body), Evgeni Malkin (upper body), Kris Letang (upper body), Bryan Rust (lower body), Erik Karlsson (lower body), Ben Kindel (upper body) and Parker Wotherspoon (upper body) all did not play and are considered “day to day.”

Connor Dewar and Blake Lizotte also remained out. Pittsburgh recalled Koppanen, Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League amid the copious absences.

The remaining Penguins registered one shot on goal in the first period. The Capitals had 10 but were unable to beat Arturs Silovs.

That changed less than two minutes into the second period. Aliaksei Protas intercepted Penguins defenseman Jack St. Ivany’s attempted breakout pass. A few seconds later, Protas buried a feed across the crease from his younger brother, Ilya, to give Washington the game’s first goal.

Anthony Mantha quickly tied it with his 32nd goal of the season. Mantha took a pass from Ryan Shea and fired a shot from behind the left circle that beat Logan Thompson, with some help from a screen set by Justin Brazeau.

Four minutes later, Silovs appeared to make an excellent glove save on a rush chance for Ryan Leonard. But the puck crossed the line in Silovs’ glove, and Washington took the lead again.

Tom Wilson added to it in short order. With Silovs down and out, the big winger located a loose puck and popped it into the open net.

The Penguins’ fourth line struck back. Sam Girard made a great play to carry the puck into the slot and shuffled it to Elmer Soderblom. His redirect attempt was saved, but Noel Acciari cleaned up the rebound.

The Capitals answered 11 seconds later. Cole Hutson flew into the slot and put the puck on net. Leonard pounced on the rebound and scored his second of the game to put Washington back in front by two.

Kevin Hayes took a penalty later in the second. The Penguins fought off the ensuing power play, and Hayes came out of the box on a partial breakaway. He rifled a heavy wrister past Thompson to cut the deficit to one before the second intermission.

Early in the third period, Brazeau hit Rasmus Sandin after a faceoff in the Capitals zone. Sandin went down in serious pain and left the game.

Brazeau was not penalized for the hit away from the puck. But he was called for hooking shortly after, and Ilya Protas scored his first career goal on the power play to give Washington a two-goal lead.

It was the younger Protas’ third point of the game.

Mantha was hooked on a breakaway eight minutes into the third period. He earned the Penguins’ first penalty shot of the season but was denied by Thompson.

Ovechkin iced the game with an empty-netter at the 16:22 mark of the third period.

It was over when …

With the lineup the Penguins rolled out, it probably should have been over before the opening faceoff. But Ovechkin’s goal truly put the game out of reach.

Stat of the game

31-12: The Capitals’ shots advantage, unofficially. The play didn’t feel that lopsided, but Washington certainly had more chances.

Around the boards

— Dewar, who also missed Thursday’s game, has been designated as “week to week” with a lower-body injury. Lizotte hasn’t played since March 14 but has been skating and is “progressing,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said.

— Muse indicated that the long list of players considered day to day are dealing with injuries rather than simply resting. He said he’ll have conversations with the medical staff about their availability for the final two games of the regular season.

— The PPG Paints Arena crowd gave Ovechkin a standing ovation in the second period.

Up next

The Penguins play the Capitals again at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, this time in Washington. It could be the final home game of Ovechkin’s career.

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