PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Penguins were the NHL's worst team nearly all season. They can only hope an unaccustomed winning streak extends to one more day.

The Penguins, finishing up a mostly bad season with a remarkably good stretch, beat the nearly as bad Washington Capitals 4-3 on Sunday to complete one of the best closing runs in franchise history.

Despite winding up last in the overall standings for the first time in 20 years - in 1984, No. 1 draft pick Mario Lemieux was the reward - the Penguins went 12-5-3 during their final 20 games. They also were 6-0-2 in their final eight home games following a 16-game home winless streak that included a league-record 14 straight losses.

Only the 1993 team that won a league-record 17 in a row ended with more than the 27 points the Penguins got in their final 20 games.

As rookie Ryan Malone said, their fans got exactly what they wanted. The Penguins finished last, thereby giving them the best chance of winning Tuesday's draft lottery, but they also ended with a burst that supplies hope for the future.

That future would look even better if they land the No. 1 pick and draft Russian star Alexander Ovechkin, considered one of the top forwards available since Lemieux.

"It (the closing stretch) has been great, but everyone wanted us to finish last, too, so I guess everybody is happy - except us," Malone said. "Obviously, you want to be in the playoffs."

The Penguins have a 48.2 percent chance of winning the lottery, though the last-place team hasn't won it since 1997. Chicago finished second and has an 18.8 percent chance; the Capitals were third and have a 14.2 percent chance.

The Capitals and Penguins are accustomed to meeting in April - from 1992-96, they met in the playoffs four times in five seasons - but not in a game with so little meaning. Washington's season included the jettisoning of most of its top players, including Jaromir Jagr, Sergei Gonchar and Robert Lang.

Asked if he was glad the season was over, Brendan Witt said, "The year, the awful year, yeah ... but as players we always enjoy playing, and now it's going to take a few days to sink in it's over."

One play exemplified the Capitals' season: Penguins goalie Sebastien Caron's stop of Witt's shot during a 2-on-0 break with Craig Johnson in the third period.

"I was actually hoping he was going to shoot it," Witt said. "I know he (Caron) sort of glanced at me, I knew he was reading it, but he made a good save."

The Penguins also attempted to save their season, though that wasn't really possible after they won only 10 of their first 61 games. Some late-season pickups, including defenseman Ric Jackman and forward Lasse Pirjeta, helped lead their turnaround.

Pirjeta scored twice, giving him six goals in his final eight games; Milan Kraft got the winner with 2:38 remaining and Jackman had an assist.

After the game, the Penguins' Eddie Olczyk was given a standing ovation by the near-sellout crowd - a rarity for a coach with so poor a record.

"We've laid the foundation and now we've got to take

the next step," Olczyk said. Notes: The Penguins

were 5-2-1 in their final eight. ... Dick Tarnstrom (52 points) is the first defenseman to lead the Penguins in scoring. ... Jeff Halpern set up both of Washington's final two goals. ... Of the Penguins' 27 skaters this season, 19 set career highs in scoring. ... Penguins F Kelly Buchberger, who on Friday ended an 86-game streak without a goal, was chosen as the No. 1 star in what likely was his final NHL game.

AP-ES-04-05-04 0518EDT