Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Washington Capitals 1/18/2025

Yesterday at 07:00 AM

Crosby and Ovechkin are set for their 71st regular-season matchup today in D.C.

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (18-20-8, 44 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division) @ Washington Capitals (30-10-5, 65 points, 1st place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: Broadcasting on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and Monumental in the local markets, streaming on ESPN+

Pens' Path Ahead: The Pens are headed out West. The ongoing road swing next takes the team to California to face the Kings and Ducks. Monday's game against the Kings will mark the team's first home game since the recent deadly wildfires in the Los Angeles area.

Opponent Track: The Capitals are good. They were good even with Alex Ovechkin sidelined with a broken leg, and they're even better now that he's back. The Pens' perennial rivals come into this matchup riding a three-game win streak during which they outscored opponents 8-1. The Caps have yet to concede a regulation loss in 2025.

Season Series: A third-period go-ahead goal from Evgeni Malkin put the Pens ahead late in a road win on Nov. 8. These two rivals meet twice more in Pittsburgh, with home games sceduled in February and April.

Hidden Stat: The Penguins have points in six-straight visits to Capital One Arena (5-0-1) and are 7-1-1 in their last nine road games against the Capitals.

Not-So-Hidden Stat: The Capitals rank first in the NHL and hold a seven-point lead over the New Jersey Devils for the top of the Metropolitan Division.

Getting to know the Capitals

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Alex Ovechkin - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Alaksei Protas

Connor McMichael - Dylan Strome - Tom Wilson

Taylor Raddysh - Lars Eller - Ethen Frank

Brandon Duhaime - Nic Dowd - Andrew Mangiapane

DEFENSEMEN

Rasmus Sandin / John Carlson

Martin Fehervary / Matt Roy

Jacob Chychrun / Trevor van Riemsdyk

Goalies: Logan Thompson and Hunter Shepard

Scratches: Jakub Vrana, Alexander Alexeyev, Dylan McIlrath

IR: Charlie Lindgren, Sonny Milano, TJ Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom

• Logan Thompson has shutouts in his last two starts. Most recently he blanked the Sens by turning aside 24 shots through three periods and overtime on Thursday. He has an unreal record of 20-2-3 and some of the best stats among NHL starters.

Player stats

(via hockeydb)

• Ovechkin scored career goal No. 874, putting him 21 shy of Wayne Gretzky's all-time record, with his overtime tally Thursday against the Ottawa Senators.

• He also broke Jaromir Jagr's record for the most goalies scored against in NHL history by beating Sens goalie Leevi Merilainen, the 179th goalie to allow an Ovechkin goal.

• For what it's worth: Ovechkin has never scored against Joel Blomqvist.
• The Athletic's Shayna Goldman wrote a good story recently about how the Capitals retooled back from a playoff bubble squad back into a contending squad. The Caps sent out veterans after the 2022-23 season and replaced them with young talent, hired a new coach, hit big on a few buy-low candidates for bounce-back seasons (Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jakob Chychrun) and— maybe most importantly— found good goaltending on the trade market. One could imagine an alternate reality where the Pens made similar decisions, while connecting on free agency swings like the Ryan Graves and Reilly Smith signings, and rebuilt a contender around Crosby like the one the Caps have constructed around Ovechkin.

And now for the Pens

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Rickard Rakell - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust

Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Anthony Beauvillier

Drew O'Connor - Kevin Hayes - Philip Tomasino

Blake Lizotte - Cody Glass - Noel Acciari

DEFENSEMEN

Marcus Pettersson / Kris Letang (?)

Matt Grzelcyk / Erik Karlsson

Owen Pickering / P.O. Joseph

Goalies: Joel Blomqvist (Alex Nedeljkovic played last night)

Potential Scratches: Matt Nieto, Ryan Shea, Ryan Graves

IR: none

• The Pens had a small scare in practice Thursday when Rakell left the ice early with a hand issue. Head coach Mike Sullivan later said he had just been "nicked up," and Rakell was back in the lineup Friday night in Buffalo.
• Kris Letang left Friday's warmups early and was ruled out before the Sabres game due to illness.