Brendan Leipsic

WATCH LIVE: Capitals host Penguins on NBC

By Sean LeahyFeb 2, 2020, 12:00 PM EST

NBC’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with Sunday’s matchup between the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins. Coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

The top two teams in the Metro Division meet for the first time this season, both coming in off wins on Friday night. This is the latest date of a “first meeting” between these clubs in a non-shortened season. Sunday’s game is exactly four months since opening night of the NHL season.

Pittsburgh heads to D.C. following an OT win over their cross-state rival Flyers on Friday. After falling behind 1-0 in the first period, the Pens scored 3 straight goals to take a 3-1 lead before allowing Philadelphia to come back and tie the game at three. In overtime, captain Sidney Crosby came through with the game-winning goal just 55 seconds into the extra period.

As for the Capitals, they’ll return home after a 5-3 win in Ottawa on Friday. After jumping out to an early 2-0 lead thanks goals from T.J. Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington was able to keep the Senators at bay despite Ottawa cutting the lead to one goal on three separate occasions. The Caps have now won five of their last six games (5-1-0).

Alex Ovechkin continued his goal-scoring tear on Friday, scoring twice more to pass Mark Messier for eighth on the all-time goal list. Ovechkin now has 695 goals, five away from becoming just the eighth player in NHL history to reach 700 career goals. Ovechkin now needs 200 goals to pass Wayne Gretzky for most in NHL history.

Ovi has been incredible in recent weeks, scoring 11 goals over his last five games. He had eight in the final three games before the bye week and All-Star break. Then, after serving his 1-game suspension for skipping the All-Star Game, he has come back with three goals in the last two games. His 13 goals in January led the NHL for the month.

[COVERAGE BEGINS AT 12:30 P.M. ET ON NBC]

WHAT: Pittsburgh Penguins at Washington Capitals
WHERE: Capital One Arena
WHEN: Sunday, Feb. 2, 12:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Penguins-Capitals stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

PENGUINS
Jared McCann – Sidney Crosby – Dominik Simon
Bryan Rust – Evgeni Malkin – Patric Hornqvist
Zach Aston-Reese – Teddy Blueger – Brandon Tanev
Alex Galchenyuk – Andrew Agozzino – Anthony Angello

Jack Johnson – Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson – John Marino
Chad Ruhwedel – Justin Schultz

Starting goalie: Matt Murray

CAPITALS
Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana – Evgeny Kuznetsov – T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin – Lars Eller – Richard Panik
Brendan Leipsic – Nic Dowd – Garnet Hathaway

Michal Kempny – John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov – Nick Jensen
Jonas Siegenthaler – Radko Gudas

Starting goalie: Ilya Samsonov

Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Brian Boucher will have the call from Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. Sunday’s studio coverage on NBC will be hosted by Liam McHugh with analysts Keith Jones and Mike Milbury.

Predators vs. Capitals livestream: How to watch Wednesday Night Hockey

By Sean LeahyJan 29, 2020, 6:30 PM EST

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with the Wednesday Night Hockey matchup between the Nashville Predators 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.

Washington entered its bye week on a 3-game win streak and came out of All-Star Weekend with a 4-2 victory at Montreal on Monday, without captain Alex Ovechkin, and continues to pace the NHL with 73 points through 50 games. Nashville also had its bye week lead directly into All-Star Weekend and the Central-Division bottom-dwellers lost on Monday against Toronto, 5-2, for its third loss in the last four games.

Despite pulling up the rear in their division, the Predators are only six points out of the Wild Card as they look to continue their playoff appearance streak – which is the longest active in the Western Conference. Nashville’s current playoff streak started in recently fired Peter Laviolette’s first season at the helm after the Predators did not renew Barry Trotz’s contract after the 2013-14 season.

After sitting out Monday due to a league-imposed one-game suspension for opting to skip All-Star Weekend (Ovechkin was voted by the fans as an All-Star captain), the 34-year-old will return as he looks to build upon his goal total, which is up to 34 this season (third in NHL).

Despite leading Nashville to the playoffs in each of his first five seasons, the sluggish start to the 2019-20 season was enough for the Predators to move on from Peter Laviolette, their second-ever head coach, and bring in John Hynes, whose head coaching experience consisted of leading the Devils for four-plus seasons (2015-16 to 2019-20) before being fired on December third after New Jersey lost 17 of its first 26 games.

[COVERAGE BEGINS AT 6:30 P.M. ET ON NBCSN]

WHAT: Nashville Predators at Washington Capitals
WHERE: Capital One Arena
WHEN: Wednesday, Jan. 29, 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Predators-Capitals stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

PREDATORS
Calle Jarnkrok – Ryan Johansen – Austin Watson
Filip Forsberg – Matt Duchene – Mikael Granlund
Rocco Grimaldi – Nick Bonino – Viktor Arvidsson
Colin Blackwell – Kyle Turris – Craig Smith

Roman Josi – Yannick Weber
Mattias Ekholm – Dante Fabbro
Dan Hamhuis – Jarred Tinordi

Starting goalie: Juuse Saros

Michal Kempny – John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov – Nick Jensen
Jonas Siegenthaler – Radko Gudas

Starting goalie: Braden Holtby

Liam McHugh will host Wednesday’s coverage on NHL Live alongside analysts Anson Carter and Keith Jones and NHL insider Bob McKenzie. Mike Tirico will handle play-by-play duties for Caps-Preds on Wednesday Night Hockey alongside analyst Mike Milbury and ‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst Brian Boucher from Capital One Arena in Washington D.C.

Capitals vs. Flyers livestream: How to watch Wednesday Night Hockey

By Sean LeahyJan 8, 2020, 6:30 PM EST

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with the Wednesday Night Hockey matchup between the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers. 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.

Washington defeated the Senators 6-1 last night on home ice to pickup their third consecutive win and remain undefeated in the 2020 calendar year. Alex Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie each tallied two goals and rookie goaltender Ilya Samsonov stopped 26 of 27 shots he faced as the Caps erased an early 1-0 deficit to come away with the win. Ovechkin’s second goal, his 26th of the season, was the 684th of his career, tying him with Teemu Selanne for 11th place on the NHL’s all-time goals list.

The Caps have been pacing the entire league since the beginning of the season. Wednesday will mark the 86th day overall that Washington has led the Metro and will also mark the 67th day overall that the Caps have led the NHL this season.

Philly ended a six-game road trip (1-4-1) Tuesday night at However, things could be turning around in the city of brotherly love as the Flyers will be hosting six of their next seven games beginning Wednesday. Philly has won seven of their last eight games at home (7-1-0) and Wednesday’s game vs. Washington will be their first at the Wells Fargo Center since Dec. 23. The Flyers are 13-2-4 at home this season, while their two regulation losses are tied with Boston for the fewest in the league.

The Flyers ended a six-game road trip Tuesday night with a 5-4 (OT) loss to Carolina. Philly scored the first two goals of the game before giving up the next four. The Flyers rallied to tie the game as Travis Sanheim sent the game to the extra frame with his fifth goal of the season with under five mins to play. Canes defenseman Dougie Hamilton scored in OT to hand Philly their fifth loss of the road trip (1-4-1), but the Flyers earned a much-needed point in the standings as they head back home.

[COVERAGE BEGINS AT 6:30 P.M. ET ON NBCSN]

WHAT: Washington Capitals at Philadelphia Flyers
WHERE: Wells Fargo Center
WHEN: Wednesday, Jan. 8, 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Capitals-Flyers stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

CAPITALS
Alex Ovechkin – Nick Backstrom – Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana – Evgeny Kuznetsov – T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin – Lars Eller – Richard Panik
Brendan Leipsic – Nic Dowd – Garnet Hathaway

Michal Kempny – John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov – Nick Jensen
Jonas Siegenthaler – Radko Gudas

Starting goalie: Braden Holtby

FLYERS
Claude Giroux – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
James van Riemsdyk – Kevin Hayes – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Tyler Pitlick – Michael Raffl – Jakub Voracek
Scott Laughton – Mikhail Vorobyev – Joel Farabee

Ivan Provorov – Matt Niskanen
Travis Sanheim – Philippe Myers
Robert Hagg – Shayne Gostisbehere

Starting goalie: Carter Hart

Kathryn Tappen will host Wednesday’s coverage on NHL Live alongside Patrick Sharp and Keith Jones and Bob McKenzie. Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk and Brian Boucher will call Flyers-Capitals game from Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa.

Capitals trade Stephenson to Golden Knights for 5th-rounder

Associated PressDec 3, 2019, 1:08 PM EST

WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals traded forward Chandler Stephenson to the Vegas Golden Knights for a 2021 fifth-round pick.

Washington needed to shed salary and chose Travis Boyd over Stephenson, who they dealt rather than risk losing him on waivers. The teams announced the move Monday night after Vegas played at the New York Rangers.

Stephenson, 25, helped the Capitals win the Stanley Cup in 2018 and is now in his third full NHL season. An excellent player on the defensive end and on the penalty kill, Stephenson has three goals and an assist in 24 games this season.

Vegas president of hockey operations George McPhee was Washington’s general manger when it drafted Stephenson in the third round in 2012. He gives the Golden Knights some additional depth as they attempt to make the playoffs for the third time in three seasons of existence.

Winger Carl Hagelin‘s return from long-term injury prompted the salary cap-strapped Capitals to make a move. Team brass felt Boyd earned the opportunity to stick around in the NHL based on his play since being called up from the minors.

Boyd, 26, has a goal and six assists in 13 games with the Capitals this season.

”He’s better than he was last year, in my mind,” general manager Brian MacLellan said. ”Offensive zone, he’s controlled the play a little bit better. I think he’s always been pretty good in the offensive zone, but he’s winning more battles, he’s creating off the cycle. I think he’s done a great job for us this year.”

The additions of Hagelin, free agent signings Brendan Leipsic, Garnet Hathaway and Richard Panik made Washington feel good enough about its penalty-kill personnel to trade Stephenson, a longtime favorite of coach Todd Reirden for his fundamentally sound play.

Capitals vs. Rangers livestream: How to watch Wednesday Night Hockey

Getty Images

By Sean LeahyNov 20, 2019, 7:00 PM EST

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with the Wednesday Night Hockey matchup between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

Washington defeated the Rangers 5-2 on home ice earlier this season. Caps forward T.J. Oshie tallied two power play goals, while defenseman John Carlson notched three assists to help Washington continue their dominance over the Blueshirts.

The Capitals currently own the best record in the NHL (16-3-4 – 36 points) and have just one regulation loss in their last 16 games. Washington is averaging an NHL-best 3.74 goals per game and have scored the most goals in the league by far (86). They’ve been especially dominant on the road. Their only regulation road loss came on Oct. 10 in a 6-5 loss at Nashville, and they are currently on a nine-game road point streak. They own the best road record in the league (10-1-1).

The Rangers had an impressive 3-2 overtime win over the Penguins last week but followed that up with two disappointing losses in Florida. New York got obliterated by the Lightning on Thursday night, losing 9-3 in Tampa, and then blew a 3-2 second period lead against the Panthers on Saturday, falling 4-3 in regulation.

Mika Zibanejad will not suit up for Wednesday’s game as he is still recovering from an upper-body injury. Zibanejad has not played since suffering the injury on Oct. 27 against the Bruins. Wednesday will be his 10th consecutive game missed.

The Rangers will be getting their second-overall draft pick back after he missed the last two games with the flu. Kaapo Kakko was scratched prior to Thursday’s game against the Lighting and did not play in Saturday’s loss against the Panthers as he was still feeling ill. After a slow start to the season, Kakko has been one of New York’s top scorers as of late. The 18-year-old is coming off his first two-goal outing of his career in last week’s 3-2 overtime win over the Penguins, and he also tallied the first OT winner of his NHL career.

[COVERAGE OF RANGERS-CAPITALS BEGINS AT 7 P.M. ET – NBCSN]

WHAT: Washington Capitals at New York Rangers
WHERE: Madison Square Garden
WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 20, 7 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Rangers-Capitals stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

CAPITALS
Alex Ovechkin – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana – Lars Eller – T.J. Oshie
Richard Panik – Mike Sgarbossa – Travis Boyd
Beck Malenstyn – Chandler Stephenson – Brendan Leipsic

Michal Kempny – John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov – Radko Gudas
Jonas Siegenthaler – Nick Jensen

Starting goalie: Braden Holtby

RANGERS
Artemi Panarin – Ryan Strome – Jesper Fast
Chris Kreider – Filip Chytil – Pavel Buchnevich
Brendan Lemieux – Brett Howden – Kaapo Kakko
Tim Gettinger – Greg McKegg – Brendan Smith

Libor Hajek – Jacob Trouba
Brady Skjei – Tony DeAngelo
Ryan Lindgren – Adam Fox

Starting goalie: Henrik Lundqvist

Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk and Brian Boucher will call Capitals-Rangers from Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y. Kathryn Tappen will host Wednesday’s coverage on NHL Live alongside analysts Keith Jones and Mike Milbury and NHL insider Bob McKenzie.

NHL on NBC analyst and 2019 NHL Hockey Fights Cancer ambassador Eddie Olczyk discusses his career and fight with colon cancer in an interview with Kathryn Tappen in a 30-minute special Wednesday at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN following Wednesday Night Hockey. Olczyk was named the NHL’s Hockey Fights Cancer ambassador earlier this month and November marks Hockey Fights Cancer Month throughout the league. You can watch it live here.