Building blocks for win

PITTSBURGH — The score sheet says Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin provided the heroics in the shootout last night, but it might not have been possible without the effort in overtime by Quintin Laing.

Laing blocked three shots during a 3-on-5 situation to preserve the tie as the Washington Capitals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-5 in front of a standing-room only crowd at Mellon Arena.

“Me personally I didn’t feel like I had a very good game, and when it came time for me to go out there to kill that, I really wanted to do whatever it took to get it done,” Laing said.

Viktor Kozlov had his second straight two-goal night, and Nicklas Backstrom became the first rookie in NHL history to post back-to-back four assist games, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

Ovechkin also scored a pair of goals — and scored in the shootout for only the third time in 15 attempts since the beginning of last season.

Evgeni Malkin had two goals for the Penguins, who were without several regulars — including last season’s MVP Sidney Crosby — who was placed on injured reserve earlier in the day with an ankle injury.

“I thought it was a great show of two young superstars trying to be king of the hill,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said of the Ovechkin-Malkin matchup.

The win was the Caps’ first against the Penguins in seven tries and first in this building since Dec. 3, 2002.

It was also the team’s first four-game winning streak of the season, eighth victory in 10 games and moved Washington to within three points of both the Southeast Division lead and the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference.

“It was very important game in our season right now,” Ovechkin said. “We got to .500, but we don’t want to stop. We want to keep going and everybody understand.”

After defensemen Tom Poti and John Erskine went to the penalty box 53 seconds apart in overtime, the Penguins had a rare 5-on-3 overtime advantage. But Laing, David Steckel (who also blocked a shot) and Jeff Schultz prevented the Penguins from putting a shot on net during the power play.

In the shootout, Ovechkin and Semin both beat Pittsburgh goalie Ty Conklin with backhanded shots, and Olie Kolzig — who only stopped 10 of 15 during the regulation and overtime — yielded just one tally to Pittsburgh’s Jarkko Ruutu.

“It wasn’t a great night for me obviously,” Kolzig said. “The PK in overtime was unbelievable. I think [Laing] ended up with more saves than I did.”

Pittsburgh’s Maxime Talbot opened the scoring by taking the puck from the right corner around Backstrom to the near post for his eighth of the season 4:30 into the opening period.

Left wing Tomas Fleischmann made it 1-1 a little more than six minutes later with a backhanded shot from the slot while falling down after a nifty drop pass from Boyd Gordon. Kozlov netted his third goal in two games on a rebound of an Ovechkin shot at 16:04 of the period, but Malkin answered with his first of the night 45 seconds later.

Ruutu was hit with an unsportsmanlike infraction at the end of the first period for trying to pick a fight with Poti, and Ovechkin took advantage with his 16th power-play goal of the year. Fleischmann hit Ovechkin with a diagonal pass from below the goal line.

Malkin tied the score again with his 25th of the year — and his 11th in nine games — on a wrist shot from between the circles that beat Kolzig over his left shoulder. Petr Sykora put Pittsburgh up 4-3 with a power-play goal after a perfect slap-pass from the left point by Ryan Whitney.

But Ovechkin had an answer 1:45 later when he blasted a cross-ice one-timer from Backstrom for his league-leading 38th goal of the season.

Schultz appeared to give Washington a 5-4 lead 4:44 into the final period, but it was waived off because of a tripping penalty on Steckel.

Twenty seconds later, Ryan Malone tipped in a point shot from Sergei Gonchar to put the Penguins in front instead.

Kozlov put home the equalizer with 4:31 left on the power play on a feed from Matt Pettinger.

“We really had to win, and it looked for a while like the gods were against us,” Boudreau said. “We’ve got things to work on. We can’t continually give up four or five goals and expect to win.”

Caps report

Last night at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh

BY THE NUMBERS

15 Career goals for Viktor Kozlov against the Penguins, his most against any NHL team.

39 Points for Pittsburgh since Thanksgiving — most in the Eastern Conference. Washington is third with 34.

31 Points for Nicklas Backstrom since Thanksgiving — eight more than any other rookie.

OVECHKIN WATCH

With two goals, Alex Ovechkin moved past Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk into the league lead with 38. His three points also give him 62 for the season — two behind Tampa Bay’s Vincent Lecavalier and one behind Kovalchuk, Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Calgary’s Jarome Iginla.

Ovechkin also scored his 16th power-play goal. Iginla is second in the league with 12.

— Corey Masisak