Pittsburgh Penguins host the Washington Capitals in their fourth and final season meeting - NHL Previews
The final game of Monday will be hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins and Consol Energy Centre as they are up against the Washington Capitals.
This is the fourth and final meeting between the two sides during the course of the season.
Out of the three previous meetings, the Penguins have won only the first one 3-2 after shootout.
Capitals have won the last two games, 3-1 and 3-0, respectively.
Penguins led by Sidney Crosby and Capitals by Alex Ovechkin, have developed quite a rivalry among themselves which is also said to be one of the best in the National Hockey League.
Unfortunately, Crosby will be sidelined from the game after the injury he sustained against Capitals back on the 6th of February.
The Capitals are one of the top tier teams in the Eastern Conference who pretty much have one leg into the play-offs.
However, a 3-2 loss against the San Jose Sharks this past Thursday saw many raising concerns over their chances of making it into the cut.
However, they dominated the game again the Buffalo Sabres today and displayed amazing character and strength that resulted in 2-1 win against the Sabres.
Marcus Johansson and Mathieu Perreault’s goals led the Capitals to the win after they had a very inconsistent run. However, after their most recent win against the Sabres, the Capitals trail the Tampa Bay Lightning by just three points in the Southeast Division.
"For us, it's huge," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Nobody seems to be winning – which is great – in the Eastern Conference. We want to get closer to Tampa. We don't want to be in that race in the last five games where you're dying, you need the
win on the road to get into the playoffs. Hopefully we'd be beyond that. That's where it was so huge."
The Capitals have won 60 games of the season out of which they have won 31 games in regulation time, 10 games in overtime and scored a total of 72 points.
On the other hand, the Penguins have also played 60 games too. Out of the as many games played, they have won 36 games regulation, five games in overtime and scored 77 points.
Though the Penguins are going to some difficult times in the season which has seen them losing some of their important players due to injury like their Captain and Evgeni Malkin but they have done quite well.
They earned a point against the Hawks in the Sunday’s encounter which they lost after shootout.
"Our team stayed with it and kept going," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "We knew we were going to have to battle one out. … We kept playing and we got the (late) goal and we'll take the point."
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