Following Monday’s announcement that this would be Alex Ovechkin’s final NHL season, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals fans likely peeked at the schedule to see how many more times the two generation-defining rivals would face off. Luckily for us, tonight is the first of four final regular season matchups between Ovechkin and Crosby. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. in the nation’s capital. [NHL]
With that introduction out of the way…
Here are your Pens Points for this Wednesday morning…
The Penguins made some changes to their forward lines at
Tuesday’s practice following Monday’s 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, with Hendrix Lapierre moving up to Sidney Crosby’s line and Nick Robertson dropping to the fourth line. [PensBurgh]
Forward Bryan Rust appears close to returning from an upper-body injury after participating fully in Tuesday’s practice in a regular-contact jersey. Rust, who has missed Pittsburgh’s first three games, skated on a line with Ben Kindel and Ville Koivunen. [Trib Live]
News and notes from around the NHL…
The NHL has ended its “Hot for Hockey” marketing campaign less than a week after launching the series of short, romance novel-style audio stories featuring real NHL players. The league said the campaign was intended as a one-week promotion tied to the start of the season, and the seven episodes released on Spotify have since been removed, with no new installments planned. [CBC]
New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov made his first NHL start in nearly two years Tuesday against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The 38-year-old returned after undergoing partial replacements on both knees and last played Nov. 29, 2024, before missing the following season. [NHL]
Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2026 NHL draft, scored his first career goal on Tuesday night, getting one past Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros in the second period of his fourth professional game. [TSN]
Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov is set to miss six to eight weeks with a lower-body injury. Barkov, who missed all of last season because of a right knee injury, was hurt in his second game back and will not require surgery. [The Associated Press via Sportsnet]
