The Penguins were already playing without Evgeni Malkin on Thursday. Then, Sidney Crosby left the game early in the second period against the Ottawa Senators.

Pittsburgh picked up a gritty shootout win against a red-hot team anyway, as Rickard Rakell scored twice.

Both teams had incredible chances in the 3-on-3 overtime period, but goalies Stuart Skinner and Linus Ullmark had the answers.

Egor Chinakhov and Ben Kindel managed to beat Ullmark twice in the shootout, and the Penguins picked up their third shootout victory of the season, prevailing 4-3 over the Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario.

The team announced that Crosby was ruled out but did not specify why. His left leg appeared to get tangled up near the end of the first period, though he seemed to be moving OK and returned for a shift to start the second.

Crosby also took a hit from Nick Cousins along the boards in the first period and spoke to the Penguins’ training staff after the play.

Pittsburgh was already playing without Malkin (upper-body injury).

Neither of the Penguins’ first two matchups with the Senators went particularly well. Pittsburgh lost both in regulation. Thursday’s game didn’t start much better.

Ottawa got the first power play of the game and capitalized 4:28 in. Drake Batherson snapped in a beautiful Brady Tkachuk feed across the crease shortly after the Penguins had an excellent shorthanded chance that Ullmark denied.

Skinner proceeded to make a pair of big-time saves, including a lunging stop on Dylan Cozens from in tight, to keep the deficit at one.

The Penguins took advantage of the lift from their goaltender. They put together a couple of good shifts before Erik Karlsson intercepted a Tyler Kleven pass at the point and found Rickard Rakell alone above the circles.

Rakell unleashed a laser beam for his third goal in the past four games to tie the game with a little over six minutes remaining in the first period.

The second period started much like the first. The Senators raced out on a rush after Kris Letang let Cousins get by him in the neutral zone.

Sam Girard broke up Cousins’ pass on the ensuing 2-on-1, but Girard couldn’t find the puck. Cousins did, and poked it in before Skinner could get across the crease 1:50 into the period.

But the Penguins’ two Swedish Olympians combined for another response, this time in less than two minutes. Rakell made an excellent cross-ice pass to Karlsson, who rifled in a goal from the circle while Kindel screened Ullmark. It was Karlsson’s sixth goal in the past six games.

The Penguins dominated the rest of the period and had several chances to take the lead. They hit the post at least three times in the second. Ullmark made two sensational stops in the final seconds before the second intermission.

Pittsburgh started the third period on a power play, which quickly became a 5-on-3. Rakell took advantage with his second goal of the game, again scoring on a Karlsson feed as both Swedes reached three points.

That gave the Penguins their first lead. It didn’t last long. The Senators easily killed off the remaining power play time and immediately began pushing. Batherson knocked in a rebound for his second of the game to tie it about four minutes into the final period.

Penguins coach Dan Muse challenged for goalie interference on the play, although there wasn’t much contact. Muse fell to 0-9 on goalie interference challenges this season after the referees ruled against him.

Pittsburgh killed off the ensuing penalty, and the 3-3 score held through regulation.

Crosby exits

Crosby skated directly to the bench and headed back to the locker room near the end of the first period, although he did not appear to be in serious pain.

He would return to start the second period but left after one shift.

Crosby recently came back from an 11-game absence for a lower-body injury suffered at the Olympics. That injury appeared to be to his right knee.

The Penguins recalled forwards Avery Hayes and Joona Koppanen from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Thursday, indicating that players might be in danger of missing the game. However, Muse rolled out the same lineup as he did in his team’s loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.

It was over when…

Kindel scored on Ullmark in the shootout to give the Penguins perhaps their biggest victory of the season.

Stat of the game

2-2: Kindel's shootout success rate this season. Chinakhov is 3-7. They gave the Penguins their most important shootout goals of the season

Around the boards

• Malkin missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury. The team has designated Malkin as day-to-day. He did not make the trip to Ottawa.

• After Hayes and Koppanen were called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, neither played against the Senators.

• Winger Anthony Mantha missed practice Wednesday with a lower-body injury but was able to play Thursday.

Up next

The Penguins return home to face the Dallas Stars, second in the NHL standings, at 5 p.m. Saturday. Dallas is the toughest opponent on the Penguins’ schedule in their final 10 games.

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