Should We be More Concerned About the Penguins or Capitals?

When the Pittsburgh Penguins meet the Washington Capitals, it’s going to be an important game more often than not.

For the better part of the last two decades, Penguins-Capitals has meant Sidney Crosby against Alex Ovechkin. Their matchups have determined playoff position, playoff advancement, and Stanley Cup titles.

However, when the Pens and Caps do battle on Wednesday night, both teams will be attempting to leave their uninspiring starts to the season in the past by kickstarting what they hope will be more successful portions of their seasons.

Do the Penguins or Capitals need a win more on Wednesday?

The Penguins enter this divisional showdown on a seven-game winless streak (0-6-1). Pittsburgh has not endured such a disastrous stretch since Crosby’s rookie season when fellow three-time champions Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang weren’t even playing in the Steel City.

On the season, the Pens sit at 4-6-2, better than only the Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets in the Eastern Conference.

The Capitals snapped a four-game losing streak (0-2-2 in those games) when they beat the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. Still, their overall record is 6-6-2, which is better than Pittsburgh, but not by much.

At this point, Pittsburgh is the team that needs Wednesday’s game most desperately, as they haven’t won since October 22. With that said, Washington feels like the team that we should be more concerned about for no other reason than health.

Both of these clubs have proven over the years that with their core in place, they’re never down and out. I believe that is still the case for both squads, and therefore feel like the Penguins can overcome this putrid stretch. The Capitals, however, don’t have their core available to them.

Forwards Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson remain sidelined with injuries, making the argument that Washington will simply figure it out less convincing.

Believe me, nothing that we’ve seen from the Penguins in the last seven games suggests that we can blindly trust them either, but at least the players that have always gotten them through tough times are available to do so again.

Whether we look at the short-term or long-term, these two Metropolitan Division rivals badly need to start winning more games. What better way to spark the teams than by pitting them against one of their fiercest rivals?