PITTSBURGH — The Penguins spent the better part of 30 minutes skating in slush. They surrendered a three-on-none break. Twice, they fell behind by two goals. They played the third period with just four defensemen after injuries to a pair of regulars.
And still, they found a way.
Having Sidney Crosby involved tends to help.
The longtime captain pounced on a rebound off a Kris Letang shot 1:11 into overtime to lift Pittsburgh over Washington 5-4 on Tuesday night.
“Wins like this, I think they build, they help build the chemistry that is necessary to have success in this league as a team,” Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan said. “This might be one we look back on and say, ‘What a wild game that was, we didn’t play well but we found a way.’”
Crosby collected his third goal of the season when he skated in front of the Washington net and flipped the puck over the outstretched stick of rookie goaltender Vitek Vanecek. After appearing in early trouble after dropping a pair on the road to the Flyers to start the season, the Penguins responded by surging past Washington twice.
“When you look at the games in Philadelphia, the score probably wasn’t indicative of how we played, we made some mistakes,” said Crosby, who finished with a goal and two assists. “But to come back here and get two big wins was really important.”
Colton Sceviour, Evgeni Malkin, Teddy Blueger and Jake Guentzel also scored for Pittsburgh. Casey DeSmith finished with 22 saves — including one to stuff a 3-on-none breakaway early in the second period that kept the deficit at two — and added his first career assist when he set up Blueger for a rare shorthanded 3-on-5 goal in the second period.
“That wasn’t an easy game for a goaltender but I thought he battled really hard in the second half of the game,” Sullivan said. “He made some big saves for us.”
Tom Wilson scored twice for the Capitals. Evgeny Kuznetsov and Lars Eller both picked up their first goals of the season but Washington let leads of 3-1 and 4-2 slip away. Vanecek, who sparkled in his NHL debut last week, stopped 25 shots but was helpless as Crosby slipped across the crease to net the winner.
“After things started to happen in the second, where it felt like we were shooting ourselves in the foot, we couldn’t get motion,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said. “We couldn’t get going. They came back. Then in the third, I was looking for a better response than what we got.”
FLYERS 3, SABRES 0
PHILADELPHIA — Brian Ellliott made 40 saves, Travis Konecny scored his fourth goal in four games and Philadelphia blanked Buffalo.
Jakub Voracek also scored and Kevin Hayes added an empty-netter for the Flyers, who bounced back from Monday night’s 6-1 loss to the Sabres.
Konecny broke the scoreless tie with 2:09 left in the second period on a breakaway, beating Carter Hutton with a backhand through the goalie’s legs. Oskar Lindblom set up the goal with a long bank pass from deep in the defensive zone that landed perfectly on Konecny’s stick in Buffalo’s zone.
Voraeck made it 2-0 with 6:17 remaining, finishing a 2-on-1 with Hayes.
DEVILS 4, RANGERS 3
NEW YORK — Jack Hughes had two goals and an assist in New Jersey’s three-goal second period, and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 47 shots by New York.
Miles Wood had a goal and an assist, and Travis Zajac also scored to give the Devils at least a point in each of their first three games (2-0-1).
Blackwood, starting for the third straight game, made seven saves in the first period and 20 each in the second and third — finishing five short of his career high set last season.
Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad scored on the power play, and Filip Chytil also had a goal for the Rangers. Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox each had two assists.
Alexandar Georgiev, starting a second consecutive game after shutting out the Islanders on Saturday night, gave up four goals on 20 shots through two periods. Igor Shesterkin came on to begin the third and finished with eight saves.
RED WINGS 3, BLUE JACKETS 2, OT
DETROIT — Tyler Bertuzzi scored 15 seconds into overtime and Bobby Ryan became the first player to score four times in his first three games with Detroit, leading the Red Wings over Columbus.
Bertuzzi was credited with the winning goal after the puck went off him and in following a rebound of Dylan Larkin’s shot.
Ryan had a tiebreaking goal late in the second after Anthony Mantha pulled Detroit into a 1-all tie with a power-play goal early in the period.
Jonathan Bernier made 22 saves for the Red Wings, who split their season-opening, four-game homestand in a relatively strong start after easily being the NHL’s worst team last season.
Boone Jenner scored 1:38 into the game for the Blue Jackets, and Alexandre Texier tied it 5:04 into the third. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 24 shots for Columbus.
PANTHERS 5, BLACKHAWKS 4, OT
SUNRISE, Fla. — Frank Vatrano scored 2:50 into overtime and Florida beat winless Chicago.
Patric Hornqvist and Carter Verhaeghe each scored two goals for the Panthers (2-0-0). Keith Yandle had two assists.
Hornqvist, acquired in a September trade with Pittsburgh, has three goals and an assist in the first two games.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves for Florida in his first start of the season, but the two-time Vezina Trophy winner was a bit rusty.
Dominik Kubalik scored his first two goals of the year for the Blackhawks, who have dropped their first four games of the pandemic-shortened season. Patrick Kane also scored, and Phillipp Kurashev got his first NHL goal. Kevin Lankinen stopped 23 shots in his first career start.
JETS 4, SENATORS 3, OT
OTTAWA, Ontario — Nikolaj Ehlers scored in overtime after Winnipeg twice rallied from a two-goal deficit against Ottawa.
Ehlers scored at 2:20 of the extra period, moments after Jets goalie Laurent Brossoit made a nice stop against Drake Batherson.
Josh Morrissey tied it with 1:17 left in regulation with Brossoit on the bench for the extra attacker.
Adam Lowry and Kyle Connor had the other goals for Winnipeg, which was outshot 41-28.
Josh Norris, Chris Tierney and Alex Galchenyuk scored for the Senators.
It was the first of three games in five days between the teams.