Capitals vs. Penguins playoff preview

Washington Capitals vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Capitals:49-26-7, 105 points, first in Metropolitan
Penguins: 47-29-6, 100 points, second in Metropolitan
Season series:WSH 2-2-0; PIT 2-2-0

The skinny

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals will play each other in the Eastern Conference Second Round for the third consecutive season and the fourth time since 2009. The Penguins defeated the Capitals in seven games last season and in 2009, and won in six games in 2016.
RELATED: [Complete Capitals vs. Penguins series coverage]
"Don't get me wrong, those series went the distance," Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. "They went to overtime. It was a tough matchup that could've went either way."
They've gone the Penguins' way a lot against the Capitals. Pittsburgh has eliminated Washington on its way to winning each of its five Stanley Cup championships (1991, 1992, 2009, 2016, 2017).
The Penguins are 9-1 in series against the Capitals, whose win came in the 1994 conference quarterfinals.
Washington has not advanced past the second round since 1998, when it reached its only Stanley Cup Final.
Game 1 is at Washington on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
The Capitals have responded to adversity in these Stanley Cup Playoffs, coming back from down 2-0 against the Columbus Blue Jackets to win four straight and win the series in six games. Perhaps that will prepare them to face the Penguins.
"Obviously, we knew chances were you'd have to go through them at some point," Capitals goalie Braden Holtby said. "We've prepared well. I think we've used the year to better our team and our focus now is just on Game 1. For us, it doesn't matter the team we're playing. We have a goal in mind of winning 16 [games]."
Pittsburgh, which defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in six games in the first round, is seeking to become the fourth team in NHL history to win at least 10 consecutive postseason series in consecutive seasons, including the second to do it when every series was a best-of-7.
The Montreal Canadiens won 10 consecutive postseason series in the best-of-7 format from 1956-60, when they won two rounds each year to win the Stanley Cup five straight seasons.
No team has won as many as 10 consecutive postseason series in consecutive years since the New York Islanders won 19 in a row from 1980-84.

Game breaker

Penguins: Center Sidney Crosby had 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in the first round, becoming their all-time leading scorer in the postseason with 177 points (63 goals, 114 assists) in 154 games. Mario Lemieux held the record with 172 points. Crosby has 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 19 playoff games against the Capitals, including seven points (two goals, five assists) in six games last season.

Capitals:Forward Alex Ovechkin had eight points (five goals, three assists) in six games in the first round against the Blue Jackets. He is the Capitals' all-time leader in playoff goals (51), points (98) and games (103). Ovechkin has 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists) in 20 playoff games against the Penguins, and 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 13 games against Pittsburgh the past two postseasons.

X-factor

Penguins:Derick Brassard centers an effective third line with Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan chose to keep that line intact in Game 6 against the Flyers even though Evgeni Malkin, normally the second-line center, didn't play because of a lower-body injury. Sullivan moved Riley Sheahan up from the fourth line to replace Malkin because he wanted to keep Brassard's line together. Brassard had three points (one goal, two assists) against the Flyers.
Capitals: Lars Eller, the third-line center, will be a huge factor. They feel strongly that their top two centers, Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov, can go toe-to-toe against Crosby and Malkin, if he's healthy. Eller has to make his line, with Brett Connolly and Devante Smith-Pelly on his wings, better than Brassard's line to give them a chance to have an advantage down the middle. Eller had two goals and averaged 17:08 of ice time in six games against Columbus. He plays on both special teams.

Goaltending

Penguins: Matt Murray is 26-11 with a .926 save percentage, 1.99 goals-against average and six shutouts in 37 NHL postseason games, all since 2016. He became the fastest goalie to 25 playoff wins when he had a 26-save shutout in Game 4 against the Flyers. Murray had a .911 save percentage and 2.20 GAA with two shutouts in the first round. The 23-year-old, who is 10-1 in games following a loss in the playoffs, was injured and didn't face the Capitals in the playoffs last season. He was 4-2 with a .926 save percentage against them in 2016.

Capitals: Braden Holtby has been excellent since coming into the series against Columbus in the third period of Game 2. Philipp Grubauer started the first two games of the series and allowed eight goals on 49 shots. Holtby allowed 10 goals on 147 shots (.932 save percentage) since. He is 33-31 with a 1.99 GAA, .932 save percentage and four shutouts in 64 playoff games, and 5-8 with a .908 save percentage against the Penguins.

Numbers to know

Penguins:Typically known for their power play, which was a League-best 26.2 percent in the regular season, their better special teams unit in the first round was their penalty kill. They were 90.5 percent (19-for-21), including 15 straight kills to end the series. Their power play was 20.0 percent (5-for-25) with a shorthanded goal against.
Capitals: They had the best power play in the first round, going 33.3 percent (9-for-27), including 35.3 percent (6-for-17) in three home games. They scored at least one power-play goal in all six games against Columbus.

They said it

"[The Capitals'] core is still intact. They're a really good hockey team, very much like our team. So I don't think there are drastic differences. I think they're a little more evolved. They're a little bit more mature, as our team is. Other than that, I think they're a very competitive team." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"I can't wait. It's a huge opportunity for us to take a step forward. Obviously, it's the Stanley Cup champion, back-to-back. They know how to play. They know how to handle the pressure. It's going to be a huge series for us." -- Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin

Will win if …

Penguins:They aggressively attack through the middle of the ice. They did an excellent job of pushing the Flyers defensemen back by creating speed through the neutral zone to get clean entries into the offensive zone. If the entry wasn't clean, they dumped the puck in and aggressively forechecked. It led to the Flyers committing turnovers that lead to scoring chances for the Penguins. They will try to do the same against Washington.
Capitals:Limit their penalties. They survived the first round despite giving the Blue Jackets four power plays per game. It'll be hard to survive the second round by giving the Penguins the same. They were 68.4 percent (13-for-19) on the penalty kill against Pittsburgh in the regular season. The good news is Washington went 16-for-16 in the last four games against Columbus.

How they look

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Patric Hornqvist
Carl Hagelin -- Evgeni Malkin -- Phil Kessel
Conor Sheary -- Derick Brassard -- Bryan Rust
Zach Aston-Reese -- Riley Sheahan -- Tom Kuhnhackl
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Olli Maatta -- Justin Schultz
Jamie Oleksiak -- Chad Ruhwedel
Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith
Scratched:Matt Hunwick, Dominik Simon, Carter Rowney
Injured:None

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Chandler Stephenson -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Brett Connolly -- Lars Eller -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Jakub Vrana -- Jay Beagle -- Alex Chiasson
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Brooks Orpik -- Christian Djoos
Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched:Jakub Jerabek, Travis Boyd, Madison Bowey, Shane Gersich, Pheonix Copley
Injured:Andre Burakovsky (upper body)

Status report

Malkin has a lower-body injury and is day to day, Sullivan said. He missed Game 6 against the Flyers and didn't practice Tuesday. … Hagelin, who was injured in the second period of Game 6 on a hit from Flyers captain Claude Giroux, is day to day and didn't practice Tuesday. … Washington coach Barry Trotz said Burakovsky sustained an injury in Game 2 against Columbus that required minor surgery and he would miss the rest of the series. It's not clear if he will return to play against the Penguins.