Penguins at Capitals preview

PENGUINS (32-14-5) at CAPITALS (35-12-5)
12:30 p.m. ET; NBC

The Capitals (75 points) and Penguins (69 points) are the top two teams in the Metropolitan Division, and they will play for the first time this season. Pittsburgh is 15-4-1 in its past 20 games, and Washington is 8-3-0 in its past 11.
Crosby and the Penguins are 30-17-2 against Ovechkin and the Capitals since each joined the NHL in 2005, with the Pittsburgh center having 70 points (24 goals, 46 assists). Ovechkin and the Capitals are 19-23-7 facing Crosby and the Penguins. The Washington forward has 51 points (30 goals, 21 assists) in those games.
Ovechkin, with 11 goals in his past five games, needs five goals to become the eighth player in NHL history to reach 700.
Crosby has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in six games after missing 28 games because of core muscle surgery.

Players to watch

Penguins center Evgeni Malkin has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in his past nine games.
Capitals goalie Ilya Samsonov is 11-0-0 with a 1.73 goals-against average and .936 save percentage in his past 11 decisions. He can become the second rookie goalie in NHL history with wins in at least 12 straight decisions. The record is held by Ross Brooks, who won 14 consecutive decisions for the Boston Bruins in 1973-74.

They said it

"Anytime you face the top team in the League it's a test for you and obviously we all know the rivalry between the two teams. It's always a fun atmosphere and to go line up against them is going to be a fun challenge." -- Penguins defenseman Kris Letang
"It's always an exciting game to be a part of. Seems to bring out the best in both teams if you look over the years. It's an afternoon game, NBC, and it'll be our first of four in a short period of time so our team's excited about it as I'm sure theirs is. It'll be a good test of where our team's at." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden

Penguins projected lineup

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
Matt Murray
Tristan Jarry
Scratched: Juuso Riikola, Sam Lafferty
Injured:Nick Bjugstad (core muscle surgery), Brian Dumoulin (ankle surgery), Jake Guentzel (shoulder surgery), Dominik Kahun (concussion)

Capitals projected lineup

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
Ilya Samsonov
Braden Holtby
Scratched: Travis Boyd
Injured: None

Status report

Lafferty, a forward, was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Saturday but is not expected to play.

Stat pack

Rust has 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) in his past 15 games. … Vrana has 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in his past 11 games.