Penguins report

Scouting report

Who: Penguins vs. Washington Capitals. When, where: 1 p.m. Saturday, PPG Paints Arena.

Look, listen: AT&T SportsNet, NHL Network (subject to blackout); WXDX-FM (105.9), PittsburghPenguins.com.

Noteworthy: The Penguins begin their 14th set of backto-back games in 2019-20. So far, they are 12-13-1 in back-to-backs (6-6-1 the first day; 6-7-0 the second). … Penguins D Letang enters the game having played in 805 career NHL games. He is one game shy of tying Jaromir Jagr (806) for the fourth place on the team’s all-time games played list. … Penguins C Evgeni Malkin has racked up 48 assists in just 52 games after another multi-assist game Thursday night against the Buffalo Sabres. Malkin, who has six assists over his past two games, is averaging 0.92 assists per game. That’s the highest of his career and tied for the third-best assistsper-game ratio in the NHL. … Penguins C Nick Bjugstad made his long-awaited return to the lineup Thursday night after missing the previous 46 games due to core muscle surgery. Bjugstad skated 11:02 minutes, primarily on a line with Jared McCann and Patric Hornqvist, and finished the game with an assist on Hornqvist’s first goal . ... Although the Capitals (40-20-7) are tied with the Flyers atop the Metropolitan Division standings with 87 points, they are marred in a slump. They are just 3-5-2 over the past 10 games, including a stretch of three losses in the previous four games.

Did you know? The Penguins have been especially good against Washington at home, where they’ve won six of their past seven games (6-1-0). In those games, the Penguins are averaging 5.14 goals per game.