The set-up: The 26-8-5 Pittsburgh Penguins are 13-1-2 in their last 16 games but they are likely to remember the 7-1 shellacking they took from the Caps back on Nov. 6. The 26-9-5 Washington Capitals join the Penguins and the New York Rangers (all have 57 points) in a second-place logjam behind Columbus (28-8-4, 60 points) in the top-heavy Metropolitan Division.

Pittsburgh: The Penguins returned from a week-long layoff to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 Sunday for their fifth straight win. Six different players scored and Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves (he is 7-0-1 his last eight). Goaltender Matt Murray, who missed the last two games with a lower body injury, is day-to-day. He practiced Tuesday for a second straight day. Evgeni Malkin has recorded at least two-point performances in four of his last seven games and collected a goal and an assist in 3-2 shootout win over Washington back on Oct. 13. His 16 goals this season are second on the team to captain Sidney Crosby (26). Crosby missed the first encounter with the Capitals as he dealt with concussion-like symptoms and was kept off the scoresheet and saddled with a minus-3 rating in the second (that 7-1 loss) but has 31 points (16 goals & 15 assists) since that Nov. 6th loss.

Washington: Captain Alex Ovechkin scored his 544th career goal to tie Maurice Richard for 29th on the NHL's all-time list in Monday's 4-1 triumph over Montreal and resides one point shy of becoming the first Russian-born player to reach 1,000 points in a career. Goalie Braden Holtby's play of late has been nothing short of spectacular. The reigning Vezina Trophy winner secured the league's Third Star of the Week honors after stopping 81 of 82 shots in his last three contests and has yielded two goals or fewer in 10 of his last 12 starts.

The pick: While Holtby is red-hot, he has traditionally struggled versus the Penguins (6-7-2, 2.59 goals-against average) and note that the typical Pittsburgh road game averages 6.12 goals. Make the Over a 10* play