The Pittsburgh Penguins will meet the Washington Capitals for the first half of a home-and-home series against them.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will play the first half of a home-and-home back-to-back against the Washington Capitals on Saturday.
Saturday's game will be in Pittsburgh, followed by Sunday's game in Washington.
Both games are meaningless for the Penguins since they already have the second seed in the Metropolitan Division locked up. Meanwhile, the Capitals will be playing for their season this weekend, even if their playoff odds are only at 7.4% right now.
Saturday's game could be Alex Ovechkin's last in Pittsburgh, as he's contemplating retirement this offseason. He's one of the best players in NHL history and broke Wayne Gretzky's record for the most goals in NHL history last April. He may be 40, but he still has 31 goals and 61 points in 79 games this season.
Outside of Ovechkin, the Capitals still have power forward Tom Wilson, who's having a great year with 29 goals and 59 points in 69 games. Aliaksei Protas has been fantastic, racking up 24 goals and 50 points in 73 games.
Jakob Chychrun has been the Caps' No. 1 defenseman this season with 25 goals and 59 points in 77 games. However, don't sleep on Cole Hutson. He already has three goals and eight points in 11 games since making his NHL debut in March.
Goaltender Logan Thompson is expected to get the start for the Caps, and he's been one of the best goaltenders in the league this year. He leads the NHL with 28.1 goals saved above expected and has a .912 save percentage.
The Penguins are resting a lot of their key starters for Saturday's game after clinching a playoff spot on Thursday, including captain Sidney Crosby. This was supposed to be the 100th all-time meeting between Crosby and Ovechkin, but it won't happen.
Outside of Crosby, Ben Kindel, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson, Bryan Rust, Parker Wotherspoon, and Kris Letang will also not play.
Forwards Joona Koppanen, Rutger McGroarty, and Ville Koivunen have been recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Puck drop is set for 3 p.m. ET on ABC. Fans can also listen to the game on 105.9 'The X.'
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