WASHINGTON — Already down a game in their second-round playoff series, Kris Letang and the Pittsburgh Penguins suddenly were down a man, too, on Saturday night, when Olli Maatta was leveled by a high hit from Washington’s Brooks Orpik less than 5 minutes in.

So the Penguins simply did what they’ve been doing for weeks and weeks now: They figured out a way to set aside a setback.

Letang played more than 35 minutes to help make up for fellow defenseman Maatta’s absence, and Eric Fehr scored the tiebreaking goal against his former team with about 4 1/2 minutes remaining, giving the Penguins a 2-1 victory over the Capitals that evened the Eastern Conference series at a game apiece.

The Penguins have not lost two consecutive games since mid-January, displaying the sort of resilience that teams hope to rely on at this time of year.

“If you have that ability, you give yourself a chance every night to win. ... You’ve got to bounce back, and we’ve done a good job of that all year,” Penguins star Sidney Crosby said. “Hopefully, we continue to.”

Even Capitals coach Barry Trotz noted: “I sensed that they had a heightened sense of desperation.”

The series shifts to Pittsburgh for Game 3 on Monday night. If Saturday was any indication, it could be rough-and-tumble the rest of the way.

The tone was established early, when Orpik sent Maatta slamming to the ice. The Penguins defenseman was helped off and did not return.

Without Maatta, Letang took on an increased role, spending more than 8 1/2 more minutes in the game than any other player on either team and helping silence Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin. In all, Pittsburgh dominated play for the first two periods, and 21-year-old rookie goalie Matt Murray had23 saves.

“To play with five ‘D’ for as long as we had to ... that wasn’t easy,” Crosby said.

Fehr helped, of course. He redirected a pass out of a corner from Evgeni Malkin, sending the puck off the right post and past goalie Braden Holtby.