© Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The Pittsburgh Penguins knew what was at stake heading into the third period against their biggest rival Friday.

The Washington Capitals had erased a two-goal deficit and controlled play in a second period that could have been worse for the Penguins if not for rookie goalie Joel Blomqvist. So, despite playing the night before, Pittsburgh needed to dig down and find a way to end its early season slide.

Helped by some juggling of the line combinations, the Penguins did that with Evgeni Malkin’s tie-breaking goal at 10:28 of the third, propelling them to a 4-2 victory at Capital One Arena.

“We probably knew we needed this one,” said Pittsburgh forward Bryan Rust, who set up Malkin’s game-winner. “I think in the locker room we weren’t too happy with how that second period went. We kind of knew that we just needed to go over the boards, kind of hit the reset, the game was tied, and go out there and win a period.”

The Penguins (6-8-2) had won just two of their previous 10 games (2-6-2) and were coming off a 5-1 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. But after letting a 2-0 lead slip away Friday, they were able to finish their three-game road trip 1-1-1 thanks to Malkin’s winner and 32 saves from Blomqvist, snapping the Capitals’ seven-game home winning streak.

“I give our leadership group credit. They led the charge,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “But we got contributions up and down the lineup. It’s a great blueprint for a team game and what we can bring to the table, and we can be whole lot harder to play against, and I thought we did in the third.

“We get a huge goal from [Malkin’s] line, and I thought all four lines played well. … It was a complete effort in the third, for sure.”

The focus coming into the night was on the 20th season of Penguins captain Sidney Crosby facing Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, who met for the 70th time in a regular-season game.

© Getty Images

Although Crosby had an assist on defenseman Erik Karlsson’s goal that opened the scoring 3:11 into the first period, he remained two goals away from joining Ovechkin as the only active players to reach 600 goals.

And Ovechkin saw his five-game goal and point streaks (six goals, five assists) end, leaving him with 861 goals, 34 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894. Blomqvist deserves a chunk of the credit for that.

In his first time playing against Ovechkin, the 22-year-old stopped all five of his shots on goal, including a point-blank chance from the right side to keep the scored tied 2-2 at 9:05 of the third period.

“It was pretty cool,” Blomqvist said. “Obviously, the first time playing against him. Just a great player, so really cool.”

Blomqvist gave the Penguins more to think about with goalie Tristan Jarry expected to return from his American Hockey League conditioning assignment with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the coming days. That would mean carrying three goalies, including Blomqvist, Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic, if Blomqvist – the only one of the three who doesn’t require waivers to be assigned to the AHL – isn’t sent down.

Sullivan acknowledged it will be a difficult decision.

“They’re always tough,” Sullivan said. “These guys are all terrific people. They care a lot. They want to play. So, it will be our job to try to put the guy in there that’s going to give us the best chance to win, but we have faith in all these guys. They’re all quality goaltenders.”

Blomqvist was part of the solution Friday, along with Malkin, who had a goal and an assist; Rust, who provided a boost in his return from a lower-body injury; and Karlsson, who also had a goal and an assist. Sullivan talked before the game about how the coaches have been challenging Karlsson, who was traded to Pittsburgh by the San Jose Sharks in 2023 after winning the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman for the third time, to elevate his play at both ends of the ice.

Karlsson struggled in compiling a minus-3 rating against the Hurricanes on Thursday but rebounded against the Capitals by scoring the Penguins’ first goal and setting up Michael Bunting’s redirection goal that made it 2-0 at 6:59 of the first period.

“He played extremely well and has that ability to make an impact,” Sullivan said. “Early in the game, I thought he was really noticeable just with his skating. He’s a one-man breakout. He’s so good on the offensive blue line. He made some really nice plays. …That’s the impact that he can have with our team.”

Still, the Penguins were in jeopardy of letting this game slip away after the Capitals tied it on Andrew Mangiapane’s 2-on-1 goal at 6:04 of the second and outshot them 18-11 in the period. After that period, Sullivan decided to split up his loaded top line of Malkin, Crosby and Rickard Rakell and shift Malkin from left wing back to center between Bunting and Rust on the second line.

The move paid off when Rust drove wide around Capitals forward Connor McMichael in the left circle before passing in front to Malkin, who slipped the puck between goalie Charlie Lindgren’s pads to put Pittsburgh back ahead.

“I like to play with Sid, for sure,” Malkin said on ESPN+’s telecast. “He’s an amazing player. But sometimes we play together, sometimes I play center. We try to switch sometimes, but it worked tonight.”

With Blomqvist holding the fort, Pittsburgh withstood Washington’s late push until Noel Acciari’s clinching empty-net goal with 23 seconds remaining.

“We got out to that early lead there and give the other team credit,” Rust said. “They played hard, they got back into the game, they carried a lot of that second period. But I thought we just kind of regrouped and we went hard there in the third and we were able to get that win.”