NBCSN’s coverage of the 2020-21 NHL season continues with Tuesday’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. Coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.
Pittsburgh, after picking up their first victory of the season on Sunday afternoon over Washington, will host the Capitals again to close out this two-game series. These clubs will meet seven more times this season (including this game) with three more two-game series scheduled (next ones on Feb. 14 and 16 – on NBC and NBCSN, respectively – both also in Pittsburgh).
On Sunday, the Penguins overcame 2-1 and 3-2 deficits before Jake Guentzel scored the only goal of the shootout to give Pittsburgh a 4-3 win. Alex Ovechkin had Washington’s final shootout attempt after Guentzel scored but was denied by Casey DeSmith.
Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are each in their 16th NHL season. The two captains of their respective clubs have spent their entire careers with their teams and are each likely to make headlines this season with various milestones they’re expected to reach:
• After leading the league in goals last season for the ninth time (extending his NHL record), Ovechkin is likely to very soon move into seventh on the all-time list, passing Mike Gartner.
• He scored 48 goals last season – tied with David Pastrnak for most in the NHL. Going off of last season’s pace for Ovechkin (48 in 68 GP), he could potentially put up 40 more goals this season, which would put him fourth all-time. If he can score 44 goals, he’d become the fourth player ever to reach 750 goals.
• Crosby is 13 games shy from becoming the first player to play 1,000 games with the Penguins. It might be a longshot given the season length, but Crosby is also approaching the 500-goal mark. Mario Lemieux is the only player to score 500-plus goals with the Penguins (690).
Behind only Pittsburgh, Washington is tied with Nashville for the second-longest active playoff streak at six straight postseason appearances. Within that, the Caps have captured five straight division titles.
[COVERAGE BEGINS AT 6:30 P.M. ET ON NBCSN]
WHAT: Washington Capitals at Pittsburgh Penguins WHERE: PPG Paints Arena WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 19, 6:30 p.m. ET TV: NBCSN (*blacked out in local Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh markets) ON THE CALL: Brendan Burke, Pierre McGuire LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Penguins-Capitals stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
PENGUINS Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Kasperi Kapanen Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust Jared McCann - Mark Jankowski - Brandon Tanev Colton Sceviour - Teddy Blueger - Evan Rodrigues
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang Marcus Pettersson - John Marino Juuso Riikola - Chad Ruhwedel
Starting goalie: Casey DeSmith
CAPITALS Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Tom Wilson Jakub Vrana - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Daniel Sprong Richard Panik - Lars Eller - T.J. Oshie Carl Hagelin - Nic Dowd - Garnet Hathaway
Dmitri Orlov - John Carlson Brenden Dillon - Justin Schultz Zdeno Chara - Nick Jensen
Starting goalie: Vitek Vanecek