NBCSN’s coverage of the 2020-21 NHL season continues with Tuesday’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. Capitals-Penguins stream 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.
The Penguins and Capitals begin another two-game series in what is their fifth of eight matchups this regular season – meet again on Thursday. Pittsburgh is coming off a two-game sweep of the Islanders and has won four of its last five games, while Washington overcame a two-goal deficit on Sunday to defeat the Devils, 4-3, for its third win in the last four games.
Sidney Crosby, who like Alex Ovechkin is also in his 16th season, played in his 1,000th career NHL game on Saturday – the only player to reach that total all with the Penguins – and collected 2 assists, including the primary assist on Kris Letang’s game-winning goal late in the third.
Nicklas Backstrom leads Washington in goals (8), assists (14) and points (22) after added two more assists on Sunday. He is the team’s all-time leader in assists (698 – most by any player since entering the league in 2007-08) and is second in team history in points (949) – behind only Ovechkin (1,293).
Vitek Vanecek has become the Capitals’ primary goaltender (7-4-2 in 14 starts), certainly a surprise as Henrik Lundqvist (out for season after open-heart surgery) and Ilya Samsonov (contracted COVID-19) were expected to fill the void left by Braden Holtby. Vanecek, who made his NHL debut on Jan. 15, strung together consecutive strong outings last week, allowing one goal in back-to-back games, including a 26-save effort in a win at Pittsburgh last Tuesday.
[COVERAGE BEGINS AT 6:30 P.M. ET ON NBCSN]
WHAT: Pittsburgh Penguins at Washington Capitals
WHERE: Capital One Arena
WHEN: Tuesday, Feb. 23, 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN (^Blacked out in local markets)
ON THE CALL: Kenny Albert, Pierre McGuire
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Capitals-Penguins 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
Zach Aston-Reese - Teddy Blueger - Brandon Tanev
Colton Sceviour - Mark Jankowski - Sam Lafferty
Pierre-Olivier Joseph - Kris Letang
Mike Matheson - John Marino
Marcus Pettersson - Cody Ceci
Starting goalie: Tristan Jarry
CAPITALS
Alex Ovechkin - Lars Eller - Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Conor Sheary
Richard Panik - Nicklas Backstrom - T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin - Nic Dowd - Garnet Hathaway
Brenden Dillon - John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov - Justin Schultz
Zdeno Chara - Nick Jensen
Starting goalie: Vitek Vanecek