Blues at Capitals
The Washington Capitals host St. Louis on Sunday and hope a stretch of one game in seven days doesn't leave them too rusty to fend off the Blues. Washington, which leads the Metropolitan Division by two points over New Jersey, won at Carolina 5-4 in overtime Tuesday for its third straight victory and seventh in the last 10 games.
Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen (team-high plus-15, 22:29 average ice time) will play Sunday after missing Tuesday's game because of an upper-body injury, telling reporters: “I only had to miss one game. I could’ve easily missed five probably in a different part of the schedule.” Washington's Alex Ovechkin, who was named captain of the Metropolitan Division on Saturday for the All-Star Game on Jan. 28, has 13 goals and 25 points in 15 games versus St. Louis. The Blues lost 6-3 at Philadelphia on Saturday, falling to 20-2-0 this season when scoring three or more goals. "Today wasn't good enough," Blues coach Mike Yeo told reporters. "That wasn't our level, so we have to make sure we understand that, see that, and get back."
TV: 3 p.m. ET, Sportsnet One, Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Ontario, Sportsnet Pacific; FS Midwest (St. Louis), NBCS Washington
ABOUT THE BLUES (26-16-2): St. Louis is struggling to score with 25 goals in 14 games since Jaden Schwartz went down with an ankle injury. Brayden Schenn, who shares the team lead in goals (17) with Vladimir Tarasenko, hasn't scored in eight games. Paul Stastny (eight goals) owns two goals and two assists in his last three contests and has scored in back-to-back games for first time this season.
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (25-13-3): Ovechkin (26 goals this season) scored twice Tuesday and has three goals and three assists in his last three games, bringing his career totals to 584 and 494. Evgeny Kuznetsov is second on the club with 12 goals and shares the team lead in assists (27) with defenseman John Carlson despite recording only one point in the last five games. Nicklas Backstrom is third with 33 points and 25 assists after recording a goal and four assists in his last two games.
OVERTIME
1. Blues D Vince Dunn missed Saturday's game because of illness and was placed on injured reserve. St. Louis called up D Jake Walman, who could make his NHL debut Sunday.
2. Washington is 16-0-1 when leading after one period with the most wins in the NHL under such conditions. The Blues have the second-most wins at 15-0-1.
3. The Capitals have won the last three meetings by a combined 16-7.