Capitals at Blues
The St. Louis Blues look to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season when they host the desperate Washington Capitals on Tuesday night. The Blues are coming off back-to-back losses to Central Division rivals Colorado and Chicago, but they still remain in the hunt for the Presidents' Trophy and hold a one-point lead over Anaheim for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. St. Louis trails Boston by two points for the best record in the league.
Washington has staggered down the stretch, losing five in a row before beating the New York Islanders in a shootout on Saturday to dim its chances at reaching the postseason. The Capitals are four points behind Columbus for the second wild card in the East and likely will have to win out with Toronto and New Jersey both ahead of them in the standings. "All we can worry about is ourselves," forward Nicklas Backstrom said. "You can't control anything else, but how you play as a team."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports, TSN, CSN Washington
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (35-30-13): Goaltender Jaroslav Halak started the season as St. Louis' No. 1 goaltender but was shipped to Buffalo at the end of February before he was dealt to Washington a week later. Halak has lost five straight starts but admitted he wants to be in net against his former teammates, saying: “It’s still fresh. I play there for four years. I know these guys." Washington's already-slim hopes of making the playoffs took another hit when the team announced standout defenseman Mike Green will miss at least the next two games with an upper-body injury.
ABOUT THE BLUES (52-19-7): St. Louis needs to get untracked offensively after scoring only five goals in the past five games and failing to score more than two in eight of the past 10 contests. Alexander Steen, who has scored a career- and team-high 33 goals, returned to practice Monday after missing the past three games with an upper-body injury but it remains unclear if he'll be back in the lineup. "I'm really not going to get into anything ... not giving anything," Steen told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "Other than I skated today, it was a step, and that's about it."
OVERTIME
1. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin needs one goal to reach 50 for the fifth time in his career.
2. Blues G Ryan Miller posted a pair of 2-1 victories over the Capitals earlier this season while with Buffalo.
3. Ovechkin scored twice as Washington beat visiting St. Louis 4-1 on Nov. 17.