Protas, Dubois and McMichael had multi-point outings and Thompson stood tall again to help the Capitals past Pittsburgh, 4-1.

The Pittsburgh Penguins probably don’t expect Joel Blomqvist to save their season. But just being reliable by saving a few shots is a fair hope for the rookie goaltender. That’s something would-be franchise netminder Tristan Jarry was not able to provide,

The Penguins and Capitals renewed arguably the highest-profile rivalry of the salary-cap era on Saturday night.

A third-period goal from Pittsburgh’s Bryan Rust snaps goalie Logan Thompson’s scoreless streak at just shy of 120 minutes.

The Pittsburgh Penguins locker room was a mixture of sullen and encouraged. From coach Mike Sullivan to Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell, the internal reaction to their 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals was an expansive mixture of emotions.

Jakob Chychrun, Aliaksei Protas and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored, Logan Thompson made 18 saves and the NHL-leading Washington Capitals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Saturday night for

The Capitals will revert their top-6 back to what it was at the start of the season as coach Spencer Carbery continues to look for a spark at 5-on-5. Alex Ovechkin will reunite with Dylan Strome and Connor McMichael, while Pierre-Luc Dubois will go back to centering Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson.

The Pittsburgh Penguins (19-20-8) remain below .500 after leaving a smoldering crater where a five-game homestand was supposed to be. However, the Penguins clicked with A-level goaltending Friday night against the Buffalo Sabres and got back on the winning track.

For the second time this season, two of the NHL’s greats went head-to-head as Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins met with Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in DC.

The left wing practiced Monday on a line with Dubois at center and Aliaksei Protas at right wing. Ovechkin, who has 20 goals in 27 games this season and is 22 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky ’s NHL record of 894 goals, has played regularly with Dylan Strome, who practiced on a line with Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson.

WASHINGTON — The Penguins kept Joel Blomqvist busy in his return to the NHL. The rookie goalie made 29 saves, a few of them spectacular, to give the Penguins a chance at a comeback Saturday against the rival Washington Capitals on Saturday. But they couldn’t generate enough offense and lost, 4-1, at Capital One Arena.