NBC’s coverage of the 2018-19 NHL season continues with Wednesday night’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals at 7:30 p.m. ET. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports App by clicking here.
The two Metropolitan Division rivals meet for the second of four games this season. On Oct. 4, the Penguins took the first meeting in a wild 7-6 overtime game. Right now the teams, who are two of the NHL’s top offenses (WSH, 3.77 goals/gm / PIT, 3.54 goals/gm – T-4th) have identical 6-4-3 records.
The Penguins are struggling at the moment and enter Wednesday’s game on a four-game losing streak, including the last two at home by a combined 10-1 score (5-0 vs TOR, 5-1 vs NJ). They’ve never lost five in a row under Mike Sullivan.
Hoping some change will do good, Sullivan split up Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel during Tuesday’s practice.
“We’ve got some balance through our lines. We’re hoping by just simplifying our game and taking some of the thinking out of it and just getting after it out there and trying to establish some momentum, that will help us,” Sullivan explained.
Washington heads into the game in the middle of a five-game homestand. They’re coming off a 4-2 win over Edmonton on Monday and a victory on Wednesday would give them consecutive wins for the first time all year.
[WATCH LIVE – 7:30 P.M. ET - NBCSN]
What: Pittsburgh Penguins at Washington Capitals
Where: Capital One Arena
When: Wednesday, November 7th, 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Live stream: You can watch the Penguins-Capitals stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
PENGUINS
Dominik Simon - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Carl Hagelin - Evgeni Malkin - Patric Hornqvist
Jake Guentzel - Riley Sheahan - Phil Kessel
Garrett Wilson - Matt Cullen - Zach Aston-Reese
Jack Johnson - Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin - Chad Ruhwedel
Olli Maatta - Jamie Oleksiak
Starting goalie: Casey DeSmith
CAPITALS
Alex Ovechkin - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Dmitrij Jaskin
Chandler Stephenson - Nicklas Backstrom - T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky - Lars Eller - Brett Connolly
Jakub Vrana - Travis Boyd - Devante Smith-Pelly
Michal Kempny - John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov - Matt Niskanen
Christian Djoos - Madison Bowey
Starting goalie: Braden Holtby
MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line atphtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.