Crosby leads Penguins’ 4-2 win

He was credited with two goals, but one of them was scored by the Capitals.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sidney Crosby again got the better of Alex Ovechkin, thanks to a rookie who put the puck into his own net with 28 seconds to play.

Nicklas Backstrom’s attempt to clear the puck went horribly wrong, providing the Pittsburgh Penguins with the winning goal in Sunday’s 4-2 victory over the Washington Capitals.

In a crowd in front of the crease, Backstrom looked as if he were wearing the wrong-colored jersey when he got his stick on a rebound and backhanded it past goalie Cristobal Huet.

Backstrom, who wasn’t available for comment after the game, was either hoping to push the puck gently to Huet or forcefully clear it to the side of the net.

Either way, he failed, and the goal was credited as an unassisted score for Crosby, who took the original shot. The puck was close to striking Crosby’s skate on the way into the net, but the Penguins star said he thought it went in clean off Backstrom’s stick.

“We’ve been on the other side of that before. Obviously, it’s not fun,” Crosby said. “It’s a big break for us.”

The goal was Crosby’s second of the game, his first goals since returning last week after missing 21 games with a severely sprained ankle. Jordan Staal added an empty-net goal with 12 seconds remaining, and Petr Sykora also scored for the Penguins, who moved within one point of first-place New Jersey in the Atlantic Division.

Evgeni Malkin had three assists to give him 92 points, gaining ground on Ovechkin in the NHL scoring race. Ovechkin (two assists) has 95 points.

The win also gave Crosby another notch in a one-sided head-to-head rivalry with Ovechkin. The Penguins are 10-1 against the Capitals when both are playing.

Coach Michel Therrien said he had a talk with Crosby before the game to discuss “little things to help him to get his game better.”

“There’s no athlete that could come back to competition after such a long time being out of the game,” Therrien said. “There’s no doubt tonight that was the best performance I’ve seen since he’s been back.”

Brooks Laich and Alexander Semin scored for the Capitals, who have lost back-to-back games in regulation for the first time since coach Bruce Boudreau was hired on Thanksgiving Day. Washington blew a late one-goal lead to lose 2-1 at Boston Saturday and remains seven points behind first-place Carolina in the Southeast Division.