Sidney Crosby’s 20th campaign in the NHL ended just like his first.

And the previous two.

Out of the playoffs.

And while the Penguins were eliminated from contention for this upcoming postseason well before their regular-season finale Thursday — a 5-2 victory against the Washington Capitals at PPG Paints Arena — they treated Game 82 like it was Game 1 of a postseason series against their enduring rivals.

Their captain wouldn’t allow anything else.

“You have to have pride in what you do, no matter what it is,” Crosby said Tuesday in Cranberry. “We’re pretty fortunate to do what we do here. There’s frustrations, and it’s tough and difficult (but) in the big scheme of things, we’re still fortunate to do what we do. You keep that in the back of your mind, but you also have pride in whatever you do, whatever your role is. Whether you’re just coming in or you’ve been here for a long time, there’s a standard that we try to have and that we bring every day.

“Hopefully, you can live up to that. That’s not anything that’s given. You’ve got to do it every single day.”

On this day, Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic got the final start of the season. Unofficially stopping 18 of 20 shots, his record improved to 14-15-5.

The visitors opened the scoring 4 minutes, 8 seconds into regulation via forward Connor McMichael’s 26th goal of the season.

Penguins forward Bryan Rust responded only 46 seconds later by reaching the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career.

A weak clearing attempt by Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin off Washington’s half-wall wound up sliding to the near point, where Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk smacked a one-timer. After Penguins rookie forward Ville Koivunen, stationed in the left circle, deflected the puck on net with the forehand of his stick, goaltender Clay Stevenson, making his first career start, fought off the puck with his right skate. The rebound kicked out to the near circle where Rust alertly fired an immediate forehand shot by Stevenson’s stick.

Rust scored again during a power-play scenario at 7:19 of the second period.

Off some perimeter movement in Washington’s zone, Koivunen accepted a pass in the right circle then offloaded to the right of the cage for Crosby. Spinning to his left, Crosby fed an adroit backhand pass through the blue paint for Rust, who leaned down and elevated a wrister through a keyhole-narrow opening between the left post and Stevenson’s right shoulder.

After Capitals forward Dylan Strome had a goal euthanized by a coach’s challenge from the Penguins at 10:25 of the middle period, Crosby’s 33rd goal came shortly after at the 11:56 mark.

Claiming a loose puck on Washington’s left half-wall, Penguins forward Philip Tomasino maneuvered toward the cage on something of a two-on-one advance with Crosby against Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun. Tomasino made the logical choice to feed the puck to the lower-right circle, where Crosby pumped a one-timer by Stevenson’s glove.

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin, who was celebrated via a video presentation during the first period for recently becoming the NHL’s all-time leader in goals, scored for the 897th occasion in his career (and 44th time this season) at 16:56 of the second period during a power-play opportunity.

Koivunen’s would-be first career goal at 4:14 of the third period was wiped out after officials determined he pushed the puck into the cage with his left hand while lying on the ice.

Undeterred, the Penguins added to their lead when forward Danton Heinen (his ninth goal at the 8:46 mark) and Tomasino (his 11th at 9:01) found the back of the net legally.

Notes: Penguins rookie forward Sam Poulin was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Thursday afternoon under emergency roster conditions and opened the contest on the left wing of the fourth line. His promotion was prompted by veteran forward Kevin Hayes being scratched because of an undisclosed injury. … Rust served as an alternate captain in place of defenseman Kris Letang, who was scratched two days after undergoing a surgical procedure on his heart.

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