Capitals at Bruins
The Washington Capitals have received plenty of offense from captain Alex Ovechkin, fellow Russian Evgeny Kuznetsov and Swedish Olympian Nicklas Backstrom over the years, but bottom-six forwards such as Lars Eller and company are making their presence known of late. The Capitals look to ride the momentum of Eller's three-point performance into Saturday's road tilt versus the Boston Bruins.
"I think (Thursday) was a good picture of what we're capable of doing in the bottom six," the 28-year-old Eller told the Washington Post following his two-goal effort in Washington's 4-3 win over the New York Islanders "... You can't expect to score two or three every game, but production has got to be there when the top six is not always scoring because you can’t count on them every game." Washington's bottom-six forwards accounted for eight points (three goals, five assists) against the Islanders, while Eller's three goals this season are 25 percent of the way toward tying his 81-game output of 2016-17. Boston hardly is lighting up the scoreboard with eight goals in its last four games, although it owns a 2-0-2 mark in that stretch. Tuukka Rask turned aside 28 shots in a 2-1 victory over Vegas on Thursday, improving his save percentage to a stellar .931 in his last four starts.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, NESN (Boston), NBCSN Washington
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (6-6-1): Backstrom recorded two goals and three assists as Washington swept the three-game regular-season series versus Boston in 2016-17 and has blasted the Bruins for 35 points (six goals, 29 assists) in his career. Not to be outdone, Ovechkin scored a goal and set up two others against Boston last season and hopes to channel that success in his bid to end his modest two-game point drought in 2017-18. Braden Holtby was in net for two of the three meetings with the Bruins last season and owns a sterling 11-2-0 career mark versus the club with three shutouts, a 1.80 goals-against average and .945 save percentage.
ABOUT THE BRUINS (5-3-3): Defenseman Torey Krug has been chipping in at the offensive end of late, following up his second goal of the season in Monday's 4-3 shootout loss to Columbus with two assists versus the Golden Knights. Krug's first assist came after Riley Nash cleaned up a rebound in front, making the latter ecstatic despite scoring what was by all accounts - even his own - a less-than-aesthetically-pleasing goal. "It was not the prettiest goal I ever scored, but when you haven't scored in 10 games, you'll take it any way it comes," the 28-year-old Nash told reporters.
OVERTIME
1. Boston LW Brad Marchand (team-leading eight goals) collected two goals and a pair of assists in two meetings with Washington last season.
2. The Capitals are vying to win consecutive contests for the first time since emerging victorious in their opening two games of the season.
3. Bruins RW David Pastrnak has been held off the scoresheet in three of his last four contests, recording just eight shots on goal in the process.