Capitals at Flyers
The Washington Capitals sit atop the Metropolitan Division thanks to a four-game winning streak and hope to keep it going when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday. Washington finds itself two points ahead of Pittsburgh after scoring 13 goals during a home-and-home sweep of the New York Islanders.
Nicklas Backstrom, who netted a tally and set up another in Friday's 6-3 victory, is riding a four-game point streak during which he has collected three goals and four assists. The Capitals will need another strong offensive performance from Backstrom as Evgeny Kuznetsov did not make the trip to Philadelphia due to an upper-body injury. The Flyers are just ahead of Columbus for third place in the Metropolitan and trail Washington by six points after using a four-goal third period to defeat Carolina 4-2 on Saturday. Jakub Voracek has landed on the scoresheet in five of his last six contests after scoring a goal against the Hurricanes.
TV: 5 p.m. ET, NHL Network, NBCS Washington, NBCS Philadelphia
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (41-23-7): Kuznetsov exited Friday's game in the second period with his injury, but not before notching two assists to give him seven points in his last three contests. The 25-year-old Russian is second on the team with 71 points and is six away from matching the career high he set in 2015-16. Alex Chiasson made a case to remain in the lineup with his performance on Friday, as he recorded a goal and two assists after being a healthy scratch for the previous three contests.
ABOUT THE FLYERS (36-25-11): Sean Couturier leads the team with 29 goals and is one away from 100 for his career. The 25-year-old center has gone 14 games without a tally but has notched an assist in each of his last three contests. The Flyers, who are four points behind second-place Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan, ended February with a 12-game point streak (10-0-2) but lost seven of their first eight this month (1-6-1) before defeating Carolina.
OVERTIME
1. Flyers D Brandon Manning's next game will be the 200th of his career.
2. Philadelphia LW Oskar Lindblom notched an assist Saturday for his first point in 13 NHL contests.
3. Washington RW T.J. Oshie has recorded three goals in two contests following a 19-game drought.