Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang scored off a faceoff win at 11 minutes, 23 seconds of overtime to lift his team to a dramatic 3-2 victory over Washington at Mellon Arena on Wednesday night.

Forward David Steckel waited patiently for the final draw in his defensive zone, but was beaten to the punch by Penguins forward Sidney Crosby. He swiped the puck back to teammate Mark Eaton, who quickly moved it to Letang. The resulting one-timer deflected off Caps defenseman Shaone Morrisonn’s stick — or maybe his leg — and zipped past goalie Simeon Varlamov.

“[Crosby] won it clean and it’s hard not even getting to see it,” said Morrisonn, who was a victim of similar bad luck during a 3-2 loss to Boston on Jan. 27 when he tipped in a Bruins’ crossing pass in overtime. “It was going through two guys. I think if it doesn’t hit someone [Varlamov] will be in position. But it happens so quick. Just an unfortunate break.”

The win means Pittsburgh is back in the series, now trailing 2-1 with Game 4 looming on Friday night at home and a quick turnaround for Game 5 at Verizon Center on Saturday. It also meant the Penguins avoided what would have been a devastating loss in a game they dominated for long stretches.

Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin silenced the critics who have questioned his play in this series. The Hart Trophy finalist put his team ahead at 15:01 of the third period with a beautiful power-play goal, whipping a wrist shot over Varlamov’s shoulder from the high slot.

That goal set of a wild — and premature — celebration by the sellout crowd. Because Caps forward Nicklas Backstrom scored on the power play with just 1:50 remaining in the game, tapping home a rebound to tie the score at 2. It left the fans — and the Penguins themselves — stunned. But they were ready when overtime started.

“Walking through the dressing room after the third period the guys were saying ‘We just need to keep playing the same way,’” said Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma. “[The Caps] were certainly dangerous there a few times in overtime. But we got to the offensive zone and had some flurries around the net. Fortunately, we got the faceoff there.”

Varlamov again saved Washington on a night when it was outshot 15-4 in the second period and 11-6 in the third. The Penguins had seven power plays to the Caps’ two. Varlamov finished with 39 saves on 42 Pittsburgh shots.

“The only times that they scored were the ones that [Varlamov] couldn’t see. But everything he sees he stops,” said Caps defenseman Mike Green.

Varlamov and the penalty-kill unit somehow staved off six of the seven Pittsburgh power plays. But the effort left them all drained when it mattered most. Despite a few quality chances early in the overtime period, including two good ones for star forward Alex Ovechkin, Pittsburgh had enough to pull out the win.

“I think four [penalties] you can get away with and when we got the fifth I thought, ‘Okay, we’re playing with fire.’” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “And when we got the sixth I said, ‘Now we’re in the danger zone.’ And we were.”

Game 3 could not have started any better for the Caps. With the partisan crowd roaring early in the first period, a harmless Green dump in turned deadly. As goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (21 saves) went to play the puck, it caromed hard off the boards and directly into the slot, where Ovechkin was waiting. He easily slammed it home for his eight playoff goal this spring.

It was the break Washington needed to quiet the crowd just 83 seconds into the game.

But from there it was all down hill as Washington endured a miserable second period. Pittsburgh controlled the puck throughout, outshot the Caps 15-4 and had the advantage in power plays 2-0. A Pittsburgh goal appeared inevitable and it finally happened at 9:29 when Ruslan Fedotenko finished a 2-on-1 break.

“[Pittsburgh] had their foot on the pedal the whole second half of the game and they deserved to win tonight,” Green said. “Again, they played really hard. If we stay simple and play a simple game against these guys we’re usually fine. But tonight we didn’t do that.”.

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