The Pittsburgh Penguins face the Washington Capitals with both teams looking to build off of strong seasons. The Penguins have a 24-15-8 record while the Capitals have a 25-19-6 record but hope to rebound from back-to-back losses. Both teams look to improve in the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference and the upcoming game should be a great one as a result.
The Penguins are having a promising season with their offense stepping up and scoring 3.28 goals per game including 12 goals in the last three games. Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, and Evgeni Malkin have scored 60 goals and 88 assists to lead the top two lines but the offense has also stepped up. Rickard Rackell, Bryan Rust, and Jason Zucker have combined for 41 goals and 50 assists while defenseman Kris Letang has added four goals and 16 assists from the point to open up the offense.
The offense has been great but the defense has struggled, allowing 3.06 goals per game. Brian Dumoulin and Marcus Pettersson have combined for 4.3 defensive point shares but the rest of the unit has struggled, allowing opponents to find open shots on the net at will. The one bright spot has been the play of goaltender Tristan Jarry who has a .921 save percentage and a 2.65 goals-against average on 886 shots.