Capitals at Stars
Heading into the new calendar year, the Dallas Stars looked like a good bet to emerge from their season-long funk. But the Stars have once again fallen on hard times - and find themselves on the outside of the Western Conference playoff race as they prepare to host the Washington Capitals on Saturday night. The Stars won four straight and eight of nine over a recent stretch, but have since dropped five of six and are coming off a 2-1 home loss to Winnipeg.
Dallas' success Saturday may hinge on its ability to slow down Washington superstar Alex Ovechkin, who appears to be heating up. The captain scored twice for his first multi-goal performance in over a month as the Capitals rallied from a two-goal deficit only to collapse late in a 4-3 loss to the West-leading Nashville Predators. Ovechkin has eight goals in his last nine games for Washington, which has just two regulation losses in its last 20 games (14-2-4).
TV: 8 p.m. ET, CSN-DC (Washington), FS-SW (Dallas)
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (24-12-8): Ovechkin has struggled with consistency this season, but looked like his old self Friday night - scoring twice on trademark one-timers while leading the team with a whopping nine shots on goal. The Russian sniper won't turn 30 until next September, but he's starting to close in on some impressive career milestones; he moved into 60th on the all-time goal-scoring list Friday, and could reach the top 50 by season's end. Nicklas Backstrom had two assists Friday for his first multi-point game of 2015.
ABOUT THE STARS (19-17-7): While Dallas boasts one of the league's most potent offenses - converting roughly three times per game - the team's power-play struggles are a significant concern. The Stars enter the weekend ranked 25th with the man advantage, converting at a meager 14.9 percent clip despite adding plenty of firepower in the offseason. "I think we understand what the problems are, and we're working hard to fix them," forward Jason Spezza told the Dallas Morning News. "We have to shoot more, we have to work harder to get inside more."
OVERTIME
1. Dallas has won five straight meetings while allowing just four goals in its last four encounters.
2. Washington has lost four straight times when playing the finale of a back-to-back.
3. Ovechkin has four goals and an assist in eight career games against the Stars.