Capitals hold off Penguins, extend point streak to 10

WASHINGTON -- Aliaksei Protas and Pierre-Luc Dubois each had a goal and an assist, and the Washington Capitals extended their point streak to 10 games with a 4-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Capital One Arena on Saturday.

Jakob Chychrun and Brandon Duhaime also scored, and Connor McMichael and Nic Dowd each had two assists for the Capitals (31-10-5), who are 7-0-3 in their past 10 and 9-0-3 in their past 12 at home.

“We did a really good job being in good spots, getting above people, killing plays in the defensive zone,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “Our checking was really, really good and everybody in the right spots was dialed right in.”

Logan Thompson made 18 saves for the Capitals and took his bid for a third consecutive shutout into the third period before Bryan Rust scored for the Penguins.

Thompson went 198:22 without allowing a goal, the third longest streak in Washington history.

“Yeah, it was fun. I don’t play for that,” Thompson said. “My goal at the end of the day is to help this team get two points and I thought I did my job tonight. The guys were excellent all day. This was probably one of our best games in a couple of months now, so credit to them. It was just from the first to the third a perfect game.”

Joel Blomqvist made 28 saves in his first start since Nov. 11 for the Penguins (19-21-8), who won 5-2 at the Buffalo Sabres on Friday to end a three-game losing streak.

“Got to put together a 60-minute effort,” Rust said. “I think we were pretty good for a lot of the night. I don’t think there were a ton of scoring chances either way. I think it was a fairly tight hockey game.”

Chychrun gave Washington a 1-0 lead at 7:42 of the first period when his slap shot from the left point deflected off the stick of Pittsburgh forward Anthony Beauvillier and past Blomqvist.

“I actually have found I’ve had a lot of good looks that haven’t been going in and tonight I get a bounce from pretty far out,” Chychrun said. “So, I’ll take that one. But, yeah, definitely getting looks, which is always nice. Would like to start to bear down on a few more of those, though.”

Protas increased the lead to 2-0 at 12:08 of the second period. After a Pittsburgh turnover behind its own goal, Dubois passed across the slot to Protas for a one-timer from the right hash marks.

Rust pulled the Penguins within 2-1 at 11:29 of the third, taking a pass from Sidney Crosby on a 2-on-1 and sliding the puck inside the near post from the right circle.

Dubois pushed it to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 17:50, scoring from low in the right circle off a pass from McMichael.

Duhaime’s empty-net goal at 18:30 made it a 4-1 final for Washington, which has won four straight and leads the NHL with 67 points.

“They're not beating themselves,” Crosby said of the Capitals. “I think they're finding different ways to win: low-scoring, high-scoring games, sometimes special teams. That's what you have to do to win consistently. It's not a secret. That's probably a big part of their success.”

NOTES: Crosby had an assist to give him 92 points (31 goals, 61 assists) in 71 regular-season games head-to-head against Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin, who has 67 points (37 goals, 30 assists) in those games. … Washington forward Tom Wilson had an assist and seven shots on goal, finishing plus-2 in his 800th NHL game. … Pat Riggin (203:52 from Jan. 27 to Feb. 3, 1984) and Jim Carey (200:04 from March 26-31, 1996) are the only Capitals goalies with longer shutout streaks than Thompson. … The Penguins’ six-game point streak at Capital One Arena ended (5-0-1). … Pittsburgh defenseman P.O. Joseph was scratched because of an illness.