Pluses, minuses for Penguins-Capitals, Predators-Avalanche

Each Wednesday throughout the regular season, Kevin Weekes will be offering his pluses and minuses for the teams competing in the NBCSN "Wednesday Night Hockey" game in his Weekes on the Web blog.
There's an excellent doubleheader this week on "Wednesday Night Hockey." The Pittsburgh Penguins (6-4-3) play the Washington Capitals (6-4-3) at Capital One Arena (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS, SN). Then the Nashville Predators (11-3-0) play the Colorado Avalanche (7-4-3) at Pepsi Center (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN).
Here's my breakdown of the games:

Capitals at Penguins

Pittsburgh

Pluses:Forward Evgeni Malkin has been a Hart Trophy candidate to this point of the season. He has 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in 13 games, and has done so quietly. Not that that is anything new for him, since he's been riding shotgun to Sidney Crosby for a decade now.
The Penguins are motivated after losing to the Capitals in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, denying them a third straight Stanley Cup championship. The Penguins had their number for so many seasons, and they're eager to have some revenge.
Minuses: Losing defenseman Justin Schultz to a broken leg Oct. 13 really has hurt offensively and defensively. He can play on the power play, eats up minutes and is a steady defender. Pittsburgh has lost four straight games (0-3-1) by a combined score of 18-6; having Schultz providing more skilled depth could have changed things.
Pittsburgh also hasn't been getting much depth scoring. Besides Malkin, Crosby and Phil Kessel, Jake Guentzel is the only other forward with at least five goals, and none besides their big three has reached double figures in points. They'll need more from the other nine forwards to produce moving forward.

Washington

Pluses:Goalie Pheonix Copley has played better in his past two starts. He made 27 saves in a 4-3 shootout win against the Calgary Flames on Oct. 30, and then made 31 saves in a 4-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. Although Braden Holtby, who hasn't played to his potential all season, remains the No. 1, it's good to know the Capitals can put more trust in Copley moving forward.
Washington still is getting production up and down the lineup. Forwards Evgeny Kuznetsov (18 points), Alex Ovechkin (17), Nicklas Backstrom (16) and T.J. Oshie (12), and defenseman John Carlson (16) each has double-digits in points, and seven players have at least three goals.
Minuses:It's typical for teams that win the Stanley Cup to come out flat to start the next season because of the toll playing an extra two months takes. I wouldn't necessarily say that's true of the Capitals, but they haven't been consistent at all and still are looking for their first back-to-back wins this season. And a month into the season they still could be trying to figure out new coach Todd Reirden's systems.
An inability to string wins together needs to change if they expect to be successful and return to the playoffs. One good sign is that Washington is 3-0-0 and has outscored opponents 16-5 on Wednesdays this season.

Predators at Avalanche

Nashville

Pluses:Between Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros, the goaltending has been amazing. Nashville is allowing 2.14 goals per game, fewest in the NHL. Their defense can clamp down but also get in on the rush, which makes them a dangerous team. There's a reason they won the Presidents' Trophy last season and are one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for most in the League this season.
The Predators, who are 6-0-0 on the road, are getting production up and down the lineup. Filip Forsberg (10 goals) and Viktor Arvidsson (eight goals) are the only players with more than four, but 15 players have scored at least one. They also have 12 players who are plus-5 or better.

Minuses: We know that they have the best group of defensemen in the League, but they could be better offensively. They have combined for nine goals, four by Roman Josi, two each for P.K. Subban and Mattias Ekholm and one by Yannick Weber.
Production from the top-line forwards is nice, but it hasn't been consistent. Forsberg doesn't have a point in three games and Ryan Johansen has gone seven games without a goal. Someone will have to step up, especially with Arvidsson on injured reserve because of a lower-body injury.

Colorado

Pluses: The top line of Mikko Rantanen (24 points), Nathan MacKinnon (21 points), Gabriel Landeskog (18 points) have been unstoppable all season. They have accounted for 27 of Colorado's 52 goals (51.9 percent). That puts a big emphasis on them each night and they have come through time and time again.
Goalies Semyon Varlamov and Philipp Grubauer have been very good this season. Not including the last two games, when they allowed 13 goals in losses to the Flames (6-5 on Thursday) and Vancouver Canucks (7-6 in overtime Friday), but that wasn't so much on them as it was the team. The defense has improved from last season, although we can see based on the past two games there still is work to do.
Minuses:They have got to get scoring outside the top line. It's unfair and unreasonable to expect them to contribute as much and as often as they have for 82 games. Their next highest scorer after their big three is defenseman Tyson Barrie with 11 points, all assists. The only other forward with double-digit points is Alex Kerfoot with 10 (two goals, eight assists).
Colorado has lost three straight games (0-2-1), and had a lead in each of them. They were ahead 1-0 after the first period against the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 27 but lost 3-2. They had a 4-1 lead entering the third period against Calgary, and the next night they had three one-goal leads against Vancouver, including two in the third period. Those defensive lapses need to be fixed, especially against a Predators team which can make them pay.