Penguins 2, Capitals 0: Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 20 of his 32 shots in the third period as host Pittsburgh swept a home-and-home series with its eighth straight victory over Washington.

Captain Sidney Crosby scored his 31st goal and Jussi Jokinen recorded his 17th - and first in 11 games - for the Penguins, who increased their lead over idle Boston to three points for the best record in the Eastern Conference. Fleury won his third straight start while recording his franchise-best 28th career shutout and fifth of the season.

Jaroslav Halak made 32 saves as the Capitals fell three points behind Columbus for the final wild card spot in the East. Captain Alex Ovechkin, who leads the NHL with 44 goals, matched a season high by not registering a point for a fourth straight game while being credited for only two shots.

The first period featured a stretch of 13:45 without a whistle as Pittsburgh outshot Washington 7-2 during that span while also outhitting the Capitals 8-3. Jokinen opened the scoring at 16:41 when he deflected defenseman Matt Niskanen's shot from the point after Evgeni Malkin collected a turnover by blue-liner Dmitry Orlov in the Washington zone.

Fleury's best stop came midway through the second period as he denied Evgeny Kuznetsov - playing his second NHL game - by lifting his right skate near the post while lying prone on the ice. Crosby finished the scoring with 5:48 left when he held the puck during a 2-on-1 and snapped a shot past Halak low to the stick side.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Capitals are 0-22-5 when scoring less than three goals and 30-5-5 when recording three or more. ... Crosby has won 24 of the 36 meetings with Ovechkin. ... Pittsburgh improved to 9-3-0 in the second of back-to-back games this season while Washington fell to 5-5-4.