Capitals at Canucks
Alex Ovechkin looks to halt a personal three-game scoring drought when he and the Washington Capitals wrap up their three-game road trip by visiting the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday. Ovechkin has yet to register a point on the trek after collecting five goals and an assist over his previous three contests. Washington evened its record on the road trip at 1-1-0 on Saturday with a 3-1 triumph at Calgary in which Joel Ward posted his seventh career two-goal performance.
Vancouver begins a three-game homestand after concluding a road trip of the same length with a 7-2 loss at Colorado on Friday. Daniel Sedin scored a goal and set up another for the Canucks, who went 1-2-0 on their trek - allowing six or more goals in each of the losses. "We can't say we are (a good defensive team) until we show it," Canucks coach Willie Desjardins told the Vancouver Sun. "We have to get on sticks; we're just breaking down and giving them too much."
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, CSN DC (Washington), RSN (Vancouver)
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (4-1-2): Ovechkin moved into ninth place on the franchise list Saturday by playing in his 686th game. The captain, who passed Kevin Hatcher, is eight contests away from moving ahead of Steve Konowalchuk (693) for eighth. Ovechkin remains six points away from overtaking Peter Bondra (825) for first place.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (4-3-0): Vancouver has dominated the all-time series of late, going 12-2-2 since the beginning of the 1998-99 campaign - including a 7-0-1 mark at home. Radim Vrbata has gotten off to a strong start in his first season with the Canucks, registering at least one point in six of their first seven contests. Ryan Miller is two away from becoming the 30th goaltender in NHL history to reach the 300-win plateau and four shy of passing Mike Richter for third place on the all-time list of American-born netminders.
OVERTIME
1. Washington G Braden Holtby surpassed Jose Theodore for seventh place on the franchise list Saturday with his 63rd victory.
2. Miller is tied with Roger Crozier, Cesare Maniago and Jaroslav Halak for 53rd place on the all-time list with 30 shutouts, one behind Tim Thomas.
3. The Capitals have held opponents under 30 shots on goal in every game thus far this season.