As the best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff series shifts to the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, the Capitals and Penguins are each looking to take the lead.
Washington hopes to take a pivotal road game from its adversary to steal back home-ice advantage, while Pittsburgh looks to take a commanding lead after doing its job by winning one of two games on the road.
This has been a very tight series up to this point, with the Capitals snaring a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 1 and the Penguins countering with a late goal in regulation to take Game 2 by a 2-1 score, tying the series up.
Carl Hagelin scored his second goal of the postseason to open the scoring for Pittsburgh in Game 1, while Marcus Johansson found the twine for his second of the playoffs to nod the game at one goal apiece. Eric Fehr then lit the lamp for his second of the postseason at 15:32 of the third period for the decisive goal.
Evgeni Malkin notched his sixth assist on the game-winning goal and enters Game 3 with a club-best three goals and 10 points. Nick Bonino paces the team with three assists.
Jon Carlson picked up his Capitals-leading fifth assist on Johansson's goal and enters Game 3 first on Washington with eight points. T.J. Oshie has four tallies and netted a hat trick in Game 1 of this series.
The Penguins will be playing without defenseman Ollie Maatta after he sustained an upper-body injury on a hit from Capitals blue liner Brooks Orpik, his former teammate in Game 2. Orpik was subsequently suspended three games.
"I expect the guys to step up and fill that gap," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said via NHL.com. "It's not just going to be the defensemen. It's going to be the forwards that have to do a better our job in our game to fill the gap as well."
Rookie goaltender Matt Murray will once again be between the pipes for Pittsburgh as Marc-Andre Fleury (concussion) is still working his way back. Murray stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced in Game 2.
"[Fleury is] making significant progress," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan told NHL.com.
Murray will be countered in the blue paint by Braden Holtby, who yielded two goals on 35 shots last game, has 75 saves on 80 shots in the series and ranks first in the NHL with a 1.24 goals-against average.
Game Preview & Live Stream
Details: Capitals at Penguins Game 3
Venue: Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Radio: Washington (WTKT 1460); Pittsburgh (105.9 WXDX)
Series: Tied 1-1.
Prediction: Our predictions for this series can be found here.
Betting Odds: The latest betting odds can be found here.
Watch Online: This game can be live streamed for free here.
