Some rivalries are more hype than hate, rooted more in a desire to sell tickets than genuine emotion.

Not this one.

It's pretty clear that the Penguins and Washington Capitals really don't care for each other. Not even a little.

Which is part of the reason the Penguins' 6-3 loss to the Capitals at Mellon Arena last night, when the Capitals ran off the final three goals of the game, stung so much.

"They're a team that feeds off emotion," Penguins defenseman Hal Gill said. "And we're a team that's struggling right now."

But that's not the only reason this defeat hurt because the Penguins might have lost far more than two points, as three regulars were injured over the course of the evening.

Sidney Crosby, the second-leading scorer in the NHL, was hurt in a collision with Dave Steckel of the Capitals with just over four minutes left in regulation. He was doubled over on the bench in obvious pain for several minutes before going to the dressing room.

"I don't think it's too bad," Crosby said. "We'll see [today]. I haven't seen [the replay], but it felt pretty bad. Hopefully, all goes well."

There was no official word on the nature or severity of his injury. The same was true of defenseman Rob Scuderi, who was struck in the forehead by a Mike Green shot late in the opening period, and forward Max Talbot, who left the game with an undisclosed injury early in the third period.

It was not immediately known if any will be available when Anaheim visits Mellon Arena at 7:38 p.m. tomorrow.

Any or all of those three could be added to an injured list that already includes Sergei Gonchar, Mike Zigomanis, Pascal Dupuis and Ruslan Fedotenko.

At this rate, the Penguins (21-20-4) might end up with more injured bodies than they have points before much longer, although right winger Petr Sykora was adamant that the Penguins can't use that as an excuse.

"This is the NHL," he said. "A lot of teams are going through the same thing, so that can't be an excuse. We have to find a way to win"

The Penguins have done that just twice in their past 10 games.

They might have found themselves in seventh place in the Eastern Conference today if they had been more opportunistic early in the game, but Chris Minard shot wide on a breakout with Sykora 35 seconds into the game, and Crosby missed the net on a breakaway at 1:20.

"We could have had a two- or three-goal lead," coach Michel Therrien said.

Instead, they had to settle for being up, 1-0, at the first intermission, despite having a five-on-three power play for a full two minutes early in the game.

Evgeni Malkin got the only goal of the period when he beat Washington goalie Jose Theodore with a slap shot from the slot at 5:45 for his team-leading 18th of the season.

The Capitals tied the score 66 seconds into the second period as Viktor Kozlov put a shot off goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and into the net from above the right hash.

Miroslav Satan, a non-factor in the Penguins' offense in recent weeks, put them back in front by throwing in a shot from near the inner edge of the left circle at 8:23 for his 350th goal in the NHL.

The goal was Satan's 13th of the season, but first in the past 14 games.

Washington countered at 12:40 with a goal from Alexander Semin, who chipped a Sergei Fedorov feed over Fleury's glove from the front lip of the crease.

The Penguins survived a brief Washington five-on-three in the waning seconds of the second and another early in the third, but Alex Ovechkin put the Capitals in front during a power play at 1:48.

Ovechkin yapped at the Penguins' bench after scoring, and the Penguins answered back with a goal at 3:12 by Ryan Whitney, who blew a slap shot past Theodore from above the left circle for his first of the season.

The Capitals reclaimed the lead for good with another power-play goal at 8:11. Tomas Fleischmann got it, lunging to knock an Ovechkin rebound past Fleury while Sykora was serving a high-sticking minor.

Ovechkin gave Washington some insurance at 11:27, when his centering pass struck Whitney's left skate and skidded past Fleury to make it 5-3.