WASHINGTON -- Sidney Crosby was everywhere Monday night, from start to finish. All of 46 seconds into the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 victory over Alex Ovechkins struggling Washington Capitals, Crosby assisted on Chris Kunitzs goal. Then, after Washington made it 1-all, Crosby drew a penalty. And 11 seconds later, on Pittsburghs third shot of the evening, Crosby put the puck in the net himself. Later, with the score again tied, Crosby had the secondary assist on Kunitzs second goal. And finally, when Ovechkin and the Capitals had a power play for most of the last two minutes, Crosby was on the ice, helping kill off the chance. "It was a very good game," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said about Crosby. "All aspects." Now theres an understatement. "We saw a 5-on-5 play. We saw the speed (Crosbys line can) generate, and got the scoring chances," Bylsma added. "Used him in defensive situations, and (he) did a great job there on the penalty kill in the third." Crosby finished with his 30th goal and two assists to raise his NHL-leading point total to 87, matching his uniform number. The Penguins beat Washington for the seventh consecutive time and overtook idle Boston for the Eastern Conferences best record. The Capitals, who began the day outside of the playoff picture in 10th place in the East, have lost four of their past five games to fall into what Ovechkin called a "desperate position." The teams play each other again Tuesday at Pittsburgh. Mondays game featured the largely uneventful NHL debut of Russian forward Evgeny Kuznetsov, a player Capitals general manager George McPhee likened to the Loch Ness Monster: "Weve heard of you, but we havent seen you." The winger was a first-round draft pick in 2010, but has been playing in Russia. He signed a contract Saturday and got on the ice for the first time about two minutes into Mondays game, part of Washingtons fourth line with Tom Wilson and Jay Beagle. Wearing No. 92, Kuznetsov also got a bit of a run alongside Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, and even some power-play action. He took 12 shifts for 10 minutes, 22 seconds, took two shots and blocked one. "We have to be patient and be realistic about expectations, because its a foreign league for him. Its a foreign system. Hes never played this way," Capitals coach Adam Oates said. "Hes never played in front of this many people, really. So for me, I want to ease him in." Penguins rookie goalie Jeff Zatkoff made 31 saves. Ovechkin, the three-time MVP who leads the NHL with 44 goals, was held without a point and was limited to four shots. Pittsburgh went ahead 1-0 on its first shot, when Crosby slid the puck across the ice to left wing Kunitz. Easily gliding past defenceman Mike Green, Kunitz flipped his shot past Jaroslav Halak, still wearing an all-white goalies mask in his second start for Washington after arriving last week in a trade. Green, Oates said, "got caught a little flat-footed on the play, probably a little surprised at the end of the shift that Kunitz had that much juice." The Capitals evened things less than 2 1/2 minutes later on Eric Fehrs 11th goal. That tie did not last long: 38 seconds afterward, Backstrom was sent to the penalty box for slashing Crosby -- who soon made it 2-1 off Evgeni Malkins assist. "I dont take too many of those. Its nice to see one go in," Crosby said. "Im usually a little closer when they go in." The Capitals got to 2-all on Backstroms power-play score at the 8:57 mark of the second period. This tie was a short one, too, lasting a little more than 3 1/2 minutes. And, not surprisingly, Crosby was involved in Pittsburghs goal again. He dropped a no-look pass back to Lee Stempniak, whose shot was kicked away by Halak, but Kunitz was there to poke in the rebound for his 31st goal. Oates summed it up this way: "Their big dogs scored." Notes: Pittsburgh went 3-2 on its season-high five-game road trip. ... Kuznetsovs appearance marked Washingtons fourth game in a row in which a player made his debut with the club. Alex Claudio Brewers Jersey . Algeria led 3-0 at halftime, but withstood a stronger South Korean second half performance to claim its first World Cup win since 1982 and move into second place in Group H with one match left to play. Defeat for South Korea means it must now beat already-qualified Belgium to stand a chance of progressing to the knockout stages. Matt Albers Jersey .com) - After Tom Brady added to an already illustrious legacy, Malcolm Butler established his by leaving the Seattle Seahawks, well, deflated. https://www.cheapbrewers.com/1249y-taylo...ey-brewers.html. The Argentina striker has not played for the Premier League leaders since September when he refused to warm up during a Champions League match and only returned last week from a three-month unauthorized absence at home. City coach Roberto Mancini had initially told Tevez he would never play for City again after his act of public insubordination, but later softened his stance and only asked for an apology. Tyrone Taylor Brewers Jersey . Thats when the eight-time champion revealed that a painful back is slowing his serves -- and, all in all, giving him more trouble than his opponents so far. Brandon Woodruff Jersey . - The Baltimore Ravens and tight end Dennis Pitta reached agreement on a five-year contract Friday.Nico Rosberg serenely marches on. All the historical stats point to him becoming world champion this year although, as he says, those stats dont include having Lewis Hamilton around.Twice on Sky F1 at the weekend he described Lewis as the benchmark. Interesting psychology - praise your rival while youre winning to further enhance your position, like the boxer who threatens to knock him out in the third, does so, and then hugs his bloody face and praises him as a most worthy rival? Or does he still mentally feel hes second best?Nico is a smart boy and he knows through painful experience that it could easily have been his car which failed in qualifying, and the championship could be now neck and neck. He also knows Lewis will not give up and has peerless speed when required. I believe its just his way of managing down the pressure and expectation in a tidal wave of questions so early in the season. Nico Rosberg comfortably won his sixth consecutive race; Sebastian Vettel and Daniil Kvyat completed the podium He will also want to beat Lewis to the title, if it happens, in a straight fight with wheel-to-wheel combat and making key overtakes stick.Thankfully for us, now they cant just focus on each other in this fight. When Ferrari stop treading on their own tails with reliability issues and contact, they will be in the race fight too and fully capable of taking points off a Mercedes driver or drivers having a bad day.A difficult afternoon no longer means a guaranteed 18 points for Rosberg or Hamilton for second place.And coming up on the rails fast is Red Bull; they could be serious race contenders in the second half of the season on certain tracks. Wolff: Nico not the favourite Mercedes boss predicts Lewis Hamilton will close the gap The first lap in Shanghai was very wild, with multiple contacts. With both Ferraris sliding a little wide, I thought Daniil Kvyat was fully within his rights to seize the opportunity in the space up the inside of Sebastian Vettel.He didnt hit the Ferrari - indeed, Vettel spun his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen around such that he actually made contact with Kvyat. From on-board Vettels car, it looked as if there was not much he could have done in the space and timeframe, and contact was made.Vettels brain was thereafter engaged fully. In front of fearsome team boss Sergio Marchionne, he had just damaged both cars, scarlet against scarlet. He set about rationalising and minimising that on the radio by deflecting everything at Kvyat. This whining would go into the post-race press conference, where he raised his voice as if on a West End stage but with a global audience to further shift the blame. A German verbally scrapping with a Russian in English.I thought Kvyat batted it all back perfectly and had every intention of enjoying a guilt-free, important-for-him, and well-deserved podium. Hamilton: Im out of jokers Lewis Hamilton admits he cannot afford another poor weekend in 2016 Seb calmed down a little after the race when describing it all as a racing incident, but he also had his brain engaged in the pits under the safety car as Nico Hulkenberg backed up Carlos Sainz, so as not to queue at his pits while they serviced his team-mate Sergio Perez. In a flash, Vettel passed the pair of them in the narrow lane before the speed limit. I loved it, but I saw a couple of tweets asking why I was impressed - surely this was illegal and dangerous? The regulations specifically allow for overtaking between the two safety car lines on track either end of the pit straight zone, rather necessarily as cars stop at their pits.It was a little risky, rather like getting in an F1 car in the first place. Its a race, not a polite high-speed demonstration, as Kvyat reminded Vettel on the opening lap. Sebastian Vettel had words with Daniil Kvyat as they waited to head out to the podium Through all of that, Vettel drove a brilliant race for second place, surpassing Ayrton Sennas and matching Raikkonens record with 81 podiums.dddddddddddd In fact, second and fifth for the Ferrari team was a major save.I felt for Daniel Ricciardo. Hes in such fine form and deserved better than a puncture while leading. There was so much debris around Im surprised we didnt have an earlier Safety Car and more punctures.The Aussie drove a stormer, which he described as one of the best of his career, fourth was some kind of reward except for his team-mate drinking the champagne.Once again, the third race tyre compound livened up proceedings and 13 of the 22 starters (and finishers) used all three at some point in the race. Having lost Saturday through rain, and with a much warmer race day, the teams and their strategists were working blind and living on their instincts and experience.It makes for a better and less predictable race. After an horrific accident in Australia and then missing Bahrain, Fernando Alonso was finally cleared to race in China. Here he talks to Martin Brundle With 62 pit stops and so much talk about tyres, it was maybe a little too much, and we are told that the wider 2017 tyres will be targeting much less degradation. The supersofts in Shanghai degraded at four tenths of a second per lap, which is very high, but spices up the action.I can see why the drivers are frustrated, because the major race-long focus is on tyre preservation and not going as fast as humanly possible. The problem with the zero-deg tyres of the past is that we had very little action of any kind. Lets hope the 2017-spec can find a nice balance between the two.Lewis elected to start from the grid and not the pit lane because that should always deliver a better track position at the end of lap one, but sadly he was penalised for that. Every race live in 2016 Sky Sports F1 brings you every race live in 2016. Fast and easy online upgrade - click here. After a great start and a careful approach around the carnage of turns one and two, a Sauber suddenly entered stage left and heavy suspension and front-wing contact was made. A trip through the gravel with the wing trapped underneath did nothing helpful for his numerous aerodynamic addenda.As much as I admire the skill and artistry of all these myriad of strakes and aerofoils, I wish we could simplify them because races are so often ruined by cars which lose a mysterious 30 points of downforce which we just cant see or feel as spectators.Nothing seemed to work thereafter for Lewis, and by just after half distance he had pitted five times for tyres and a wing and then had a long run to the finished. The team were unaware that one of his sets of tyres had been cut in the contact. At one point, Lewis made a great and unorthodox move on Valtteri Bottas in turn nine, along with other passes and carrying solid pace, but a similar move on the other Williams of Felipe Massa failed and left him exposed to being passed by Ricciardo.Despite such occasional strong pace, it was clear that Lewiss Merc was munching through its tyres too fast, although one driver on the plane on the way home unprompted said to me: Ive no idea why Lewis thought his tyres would survive attacking the fast corners like he was when I was behind him.Rosberg feels that the next few races really suit him, and Lewis must feel that his unlucky run will be coming to an end. Either way, Rosberg is guaranteed to be leading the championship until at least Spain and hes on a super-impressive roll.MBDont miss the F1 Report on Wednesday at 8:30pm on Sky Sports F1 for full analysis of an action-packed Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit. Natalie Pinkham is joined in the studio by Marc Priestley and Alex Lynn. Also See: Hamilton admits: Im out of jokers Chinese GP driver ratings ' ' '