WASHINGTON — With almost a quarter of the regular season left to play, the Washington Capitals are cruising toward the playoffs and trying to find different ways to stay focused on the present.

So coach Barry Trotz took time at his team’s morning meeting Tuesday to point out that the Pittsburgh Penguins could be Washington’s first-round opponent. The Capitals responded to that challenge by coming back from a two-goal deficit to beat their biggest rivals 3-2 in what very well could be a playoff preview.

It was just one victory in a season full of them for the NHL-leading Capitals but a performance players hope resonates in the coming months.

“We’re always trying to lay some groundwork here and put down some teams’ minds,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “It’s just one of those teams that you really want to put down if possible. They’ve done a good job against us the last couple years.”

After spotting the Penguins a 2-0 lead on goals by Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist, Washington turned up its game and stormed back. The Caps allowed the first goal for the 15th time in the past 18 games, but then they tied it with second-period goals from Mike Richards and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Defenseman Matt Niskanen scored the winner on the power play with 6:22 left.

“We knew they were going to push back — they’re a good team,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think the power play wins a lot of games for them.”

Goaltending isn’t bad either. Braden Holtby stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced, none bigger than Carl Hagelin’s attempt with 32.8 seconds left. The Penguins didn’t have another quality chance, and Holtby became the first goaltender in franchise history with consecutive 40-win seasons.

“They’re the most likely first-round matchup based on the percentage of 33.1, I think it is, or 30.1?” Trotz said jokingly.

Forget the percentages, given there’s playoff history between Sidney Crosby’s Penguins and Alex Ovechkin’s Capitals.

Or maybe it’s just vintage Penguins-Capitals.

“It’s probably more heated than most games that we’ve played in since I’ve been here,” said Richards, whose goal was his second since signing with Washington in early January. “You feel it in the dressing room, the energy before the game.”

Crosby blamed some of the physicality on the Penguins’ play, which dropped off significantly after dominating the first 10 minutes or so.

“I think we put ourselves in positions to get hit,” Crosby said. “When you’re going back for pucks continuously and you don’t execute, they have an opportunity to gain speed and get those hits in. ... That’s the type of hockey it is this time of year.”

This time of year is not the biggest concern for the Capitals, who again avoided back-to-back losses.