Capitals vs. Penguins; At last we meet!

Today’s game bring the Pittsburg Penguins (32-14-5) to Capital one Arena, to face the Washington Capitals (35-12-5). In the last ten meetings of these two, they are tied up, both winning five games. With a little over two months left, this will be the first of four games between these two. The rivalry between these guys is a fierce one and it will be exciting to see some of the new faces on Washington to be a part of it! The Pens have won three of their last four and are 4-2-0 since the return of Sidney Crosby. They are currently second in the Metropolitan division, trailing the Capitals by six points.

Alex Ovechkin has been on absolute fire as of late, scoring eleven goals in five games. The last game against Ottawa Senators which Caps won 5-3, Ovechkin scored two goals to pass Mark Messier for sole possession of eigth on the all time leading goal scoring. John Carlson also had a pair of assists against the Senators. This pushed Carlson past Calle Johansson for leading assists by a defenseman for a franchise record for Washington. Coach Reirden has left the lines unchanged and they are as follows.

Washington Capitals

Ovechkin – Backstrom – Wilson

Vrana – Kuznetsov – Oshie

Hagelin – Eller – Panik

Leipsic – Dowd – Hathaway

Kempny – Carlson

Orlov – Jensen

Siegenthaler – Gudas

Pittsburg Penguins

McCann – Crosby – Simon

Rust – Malkin – Hornqvist

Aston-Reese – Blueger – Tanev

Galchenyuk – Agozzino – Angelo

Johnson – Letang

Pettersson – Marino

Ruhwedel – Schultz

Murray

First time for Samsonov

Starting in the crease tonight will be Ilya Samsonov (16-2-1) 2.12GAA .925sv % . This will be his first time playing against the Penguins. Samsonov has not lost a game since November 15th against Montreal. His last win against Ottawa was his eleventh consecutive win which made him the third rookie goalie in NHL history to accomplish this feat. Ross Brooks had 14 in 1973-74 and George Hainsworth had 11 in 1926-27 season. Quite an accomplishment for this twenty-two year old! Today is an early game and puck drops at 12:30.