Capitals at Islanders
THE STORY: One night after extending a lengthy streak of success against a division rival, the Washington Capitals get a chance to continue another versus a conference foe when they visit the New York Islanders on Saturday. Washington rolled to a 5-1 victory over fellow Southeast occupant Carolina on Friday, improving to 7-0-1 in its last eight meetings with the Hurricanes. The Capitals now have the opportunity to continue beating up on the Islanders, who have lost six straight in the all-time series. Washington is 11-0-3 against New York since Oct. 18, 2007 and has won six in a row on Long Island. The Islanders are looking to halt their six-game overall losing streak.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSN Maryland (Washington), MSG Plus (NY Islanders)
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (9-2-0): Rookie Cody Eakin recorded his first two career points in Friday's win over Carolina. Eakin helped set up the game-winning goal by Troy Brouwer in the second period, then beat Cam Ward midway through the third for his first tally. It was the second career game for Eakin, who was a third-round draft pick in 2009. Defenseman Mike Green missed his fourth straight game with a right ankle injury suffered Oct. 22 against Detroit.
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (3-5-2): Coach Jack Capuano has decided to mix up his line combinations for Saturday's game after New York was shut out for the third time this season on Thursday by the Winnipeg Jets. "It doesn’t matter who you play with, you still have to do those little things," Capuano said. "It’s all part of the game that we play." The Islanders have been outscored 20-7 during their losing streak and have registered a league-low 18 tallies this season, seven of which have come from John Tavares.
OVERTIME:
1. The Islanders are 3-3-1 at home, with all three of the regulation losses being shutouts.
2. Washington swept the four-game series with New York last season, winning each contest by one goal and successfully killing all 17 of the Islanders' power-play opportunities.