Caps retake first in Metro

A four-goal third period by the Washington Capitals ruined a perfectly good Sunday afternoon for the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.

T.J. Oshie potted the go-ahead goal for the Caps en route to a 5-3 win and sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division.

Carl Hagelin had two goals for the Caps Capitals file photo by Lewis Bleiman

“We needed a win,” Washington’s Carl Hagelin (two goals) said.. “I think it was a gutsy effort. Showed a lot of character there in the third.”

Braden Holtby made 33 saves to earn the win for the Caps..

Patric Hornqvist, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were the Pens’ strikers.

“I thought we played real well,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said.. “It was one of our better games in a while. I thought we had a lot of really good moments in the game.”

Jakub Vrana opened the scoring in the first period to give the Caps a 1-0 lead; and Tom Wilson also scored for the Caps.

“The only way to work through it was to go out there and get it done,” Wilson said. “It wasn’t an easy game. There were ups and downs. That’s a character win. It’s one win. We’re going to learn from it, it was great for the team, but we’ve got to keep going here.”

Pittsburgh has lost three straight games.

“We get the tying goal there and then they scored on a scrum in front of the net and that was the game for them,” Hornqvist said. “Overall I think we’re the better team and it’s two good teams going after it. It’s a [heck] of a matchup. It’s fun out there and I think both teams feel the same way.”

The Caps snapped a four-game skid.

“We were calm,” Alex Ovechkin said. “We knew we play a solid game. Yeah, they scored two goals – quick one. but overall we knew it was going to be that type of game. We just (had) no panic and you can see huge goal by Haggy obviously to give us the lead and then we knew like if we were going play the same way, we can get results.”

[WATCH: All Penguins vs. Capitals highlights]

Matt Murray made 18 saves in the loss.

“It’s tough. I’ll take the blame for that [loss],” Murray said. “I think if I make the save on that breakaway on Wilson, it’s a different game. That one’s on me.”