Scouting report Matchup: Penguins at Washington Capitals, 7:08 p.m. today, Verizon Center. TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WXDX-FM (105.9). Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury for Penguins. Olaf Kolzig for Capitals. Penguins: Are 3-0 against Capitals, including 5-4 shootout victory in Washington Dec. 11. ... RW Mark Recchi does not have goal in 17 games. ... Scored first in six of past seven games. Capitals: Have won past two home games, but are 2-9-3 in past 14 games. ... C Alexander Semin has four goals, seven assists in past seven games. ... Have been outshot in 19 of their 26 victories. Hidden stat: Washington has outscored opponents, 24-15, in the final minute of periods this season.

Jordan Staal hasn't gone more than four games without a goal since early December.

That suggests there's a good chance he'll score at least once in the final six games of the regular season, beginning with the Penguins' visit tonight to Washington.

And if Staal does, his team will earn a place in NHL history as the first to have three 30-goal scorers under the age of 21.

The others are Evgeni Malkin, who is 20 and got his 32nd in the Penguins' 5-0 victory Sunday against Boston, and Sidney Crosby, who is 19 and ran his total to 34 against the Bruins.

But while Crosby staked out his place among the league's elite talents last season and Malkin entered the NHL with a world-class reputation, Staal is an 18-year-old who seemed almost certain to spend another winter with Peterborough in the Ontario Hockey League after the Penguins claimed him with the No. 2 choice in the June entry draft.

"Coming into the season, I really didn't expect to make the team," Staal said. "For it to [play out] like this is pretty amazing.".

Hot ticket

If Penguins playoff tickets are the hottest in town -- and they certainly appear to be -- there's a perfectly logical explanation: Friction.

They're moving that fast.

Approximately 4,000 tickets for the Penguins' first two playoff games went on sale yesterday morning.

Thirteen minutes later, they were gone.

No other single-game tickets are on sale yet.

Brodeur picks Crosby

New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur writes a column for a French-language newspaper in Montreal, and used it to name Crosby as his choice for the NHL's most valuable player this season.

Yesterday, however, Brodeur told a conference call that no one should think that means he has written himself off as a viable candidate for the Hart Trophy.

"When I was doing my column, it's hard to kind of pick myself there, so ... I believe [Crosby is] one of the most valuable players in the league," Brodeur said. "That's what I was writing in the article.

"I went through a few of the awards. When it came down to the Hart, if I had to vote, [and] you can't vote for yourself, that's the guy I would be voting for."