WASHINGTON — Patric Hornqvist, Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel scored in a 4:49 span to help the Pittsburgh Penguins rally to beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 on Thursday night in Game 1 of the second-round series.

Down 2-0 early in the third period and playing without Evgeni Malkin and Carl Hagelin, Pittsburgh turned it around with all three of its top-line forwards chipping in a goal. Crosby scored the tying goal when the puck bounced to him off Alex Ovechkin’s stick, and assisted on Guentzel’s go-ahead goal.

Matt Murray stopped 32 of the 34 shots to put the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions ahead in yet another series with Game 2 on Sunday in Washington. The Penguins have won nine series in a row under Coach Mike Sullivan dating to 2016, including the past two meetings against Washington.

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored 17 seconds in and Ovechkin beat Murray 28 seconds into the third period for the Capitals, who lost a game started by Braden Holtby for the first time in these playoffs.

Holtby was one of the best players on the ice in the first two periods before he and his teammates blew another two-goal lead.

Holtby allowed three goals on 25 shots, including at least one he’d like to have back during the Penguins’ comeback. It was his worst game since replacing Philipp Grubauer in net during the first round against Columbus.

NOTES

KINGS: Forwards Dustin Brown and Trevor Lewis underwent offseason surgery.

Brown had surgery on his left shoulder, and Lewis had surgery on his right hand. Both two-time Stanley Cup winners are expected to recover well before the start of training camp.

DRAFT LOTTERY: The NHL is taking a wait-then-see approach in adding an element of drama to its annual draft lottery Saturday.

Rather than revealing the entire order of the first 15 selections as the league has done in the past, everyone will have to wait a few hours to find out which teams landed the top three picks.

Selections 15 through 4 will be revealed before the start of the second-round playoff series between Vegas and San Jose. The remaining three selections will then be announced during the game’s second intermission.

At 18.5 percent, the Buffalo Sabres have the best odds to win the No. 1 pick after finishing last in the standings for the third time in five years. Buffalo can drop no lower than fourth in the draft order, with all 15 nonplayoff teams having a shot to win the top-three selections.

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