Washington Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette announced after the team’s morning skate that goaltender Vitek Vanecek will start against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday night (7 PM ET, NBCSN nationally, NBC Sports Washington locally).

The 25-year-old made 30 saves in his NHL debut on Friday, a 2-1 win at the Buffalo Sabres.

Starter Ilya Samsonov allowed seven goals on 53 shots (.868 save percentage) in his first two games of the season despite going 1-0-1 in those games. He stopped 24 of 27 shots in the Capitals’ 4-3 shootout loss to the Penguins on Sunday.

The Penguins will go back to Casey DeSmith in net against the Capitals after the 29-year-old made 20 saves in Sunday’s game and stopped 12 of 13 shots that came his way after replacing Tristan Jarry 12:15 into the Penguins’ 5-2 loss at the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday. Jarry allowed three goals on six shots in the first period before getting pulled.

By Harrison Brown