Evgeni Malkin was not on the ice for the Pittsburgh Penguins' Tuesday practice. Malkin has been hampered by a leg injury that sidelined him for the team's series-clinching victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday. Carl Hagelin, who was inactive near the end of Pittsburgh's Game 6 victory, was also inactive during Tuesday's practice.

Malkin and Hagelin were officially ruled as day-to-day following Tuesday's practice.

Coach Sullivan on the statuses of Hagelin and Malkin: "They are both day-to-day. And Geno obviously has a lower-body injury. Haggy has an upper-body injury." — Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 24, 2018

Malkin did celebrate the Pens' series victory over the Flyers on Twitter.

Despite Malkin's absence, the Pens were able to score eight goals on Sunday that included four goals by Jake Guentzel. Sidney Crosby was downright dominant against the Flyers, tallying 13 points in the series that included his third career postseason hat trick in Pittsburgh's victory in Game 1. He then tallied four points and three assists in the Pens' victory in Game 3.

Malkin did tally five points in the first five games of Pittsburgh's playoff series against Philadelphia, scoring a goal and an assist in the Pens' second and third victories over the Flyers. The future Hall of Famer enjoyed another banner regular season in 2018, as he led the Pens with 98 points that included 42 goals, his highest single season total since his MVP season back in 2012.

Pittsburgh's next opponent will be the Washington Capitals, who overcame an 0-2 series deficit to dispatch the Columbus Blue Jackets in six games in the first round. The Caps were once again led by Alex Ovechkin, who scored eight points in the series that included a pair of goals in Washington's Game 6 victory in Columbus.

This will mark the third consecutive second round playoff matchup between the Pens and Caps. Pittsburgh defeated Washington in seven games last season while also defeating them in six games in the 2016 playoffs. The Capitals are trying to get rid of the stigma of being a perennial playoff disappointment. Despite being one of the NHL's best teams over the past decade, Washington has yet to advance by the second round of the playoffs during that span.

“It’s a huge opportunity for us to take a step forward,” Ovechkin said about facing the Pens, via RMNB.com. “Obviously, it’s the Stanley Cup champion back-to-back. They know how to play. They know how to handle the pressure. It’s going to be a huge series for us.

“We believe in each other,” Ovechkin continued. “It doesn’t matter what happened, we have to stick together. We have to stick to the plan and stick to the system.”

While the Caps look to reverse their trend of playoff disappointment, the Pens are also in pursuit of NHL history. If they can win 12 more games this postseason, Pittsburgh will become the first team since the early '80s Edmonton Oilers to win the Stanley Cup in three consecutive seasons. The New York Islanders won four straight Cups from 1980-83. The Islanders were eventually dethroned by Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers, who would win the Stanley Cup four times in a five-year span from 1984-88.