Capital gains
PITTSBURGH — Evgeni Malkin couldn't have done a much better imitation of Sidney Crosby. On this night, even that wasn't good enough to outduel Alexander Ovechkin.
Ovechkin finished off an exceptional game by teaming with Alexander Semin to beat Pittsburgh goalie Ty Conklin with backhanders in the shootout and the Washington Capitals came from behind for a 6-5 victory Monday night.
Ovechkin and Malkin had two goals and an assist apiece during a matchup of Russian stars in which each seemed determined to not be upstaged by the other. One good shift would be followed by a better shift by the other, with the two stars figuring in five goals — with each scoring twice — in a hectic 12-minute span.
"I thought it was a great show of two young superstars trying to be king of the hill," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said.
However, Malkin, 0-for-5 in shootout attempts this season, never got the puck in the shootout. Penguins coach Michel Therrien went with three other skaters, with only Jarkko Ruutu beating goalie Olaf Kolzig.
Pittsburgh couldn't get the winning goal despite having a rare two-man advantage for 1 minute, 7 seconds of overtime and being on the power play for nearly 3 minutes of the 5-minute extra period.
Ryan Malone put the Penguins up 5-4 about 5 minutes into the third, tipping in Sergei Gonchar's shot from between the circles. Viktor Kozlov sent it into overtime with about 5½ minutes remaining with his second goal of the game and eighth of the season, with Niklas Backstrom getting his fourth assist of the game.
The All-Star game isn't until Sunday, but the NHL can only hope it gets a couple of its stars playing at the level Ovechkin and Malkin did. Chosen 1-2 in the 2004 draft, with Ovechkin going first, the former Russian Olympic teammates put on a show in one of the league's best regular season games this season.
"It really seems to be a battle between the two," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien.
