Capitals at Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks return to Southern California from a five-game road trip to host the Washington Capitals on Sunday. Anaheim went 2-2-1 on its trek thanks to a 2-1 triumph at Carolina on Thursday in which Matt Beleskey scored and set up a goal in a span of less than three minutes late in the second period to erase a deficit. The Ducks have lost five of their last eight contests to fall five points behind Nashville in the races for the Presidents' Trophy and the top seed in the Western Conference.
Three days after beginning its four-game road trip with an overtime victory in San Jose, Washington suffered a 3-1 loss at Los Angeles on Saturday. Captain Alex Ovechkin scored the lone goal for the Capitals, who still own a five-point lead over Boston for the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Washington posted a 3-2 shootout victory over Anaheim at home on Feb. 6 as rookie Evgeny Kuznetsov set up both regulation goals before tallying along with Nicklas Backstrom in the bonus format.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, RSN, CSN-DC (Washington), Prime Ticket (Anaheim)
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (29-17-10): Ovechkin's goal on Saturday was his 34th of the season, keeping him one behind Rick Nash of the New York Rangers for the league lead. Since a four-game goalless drought from Dec. 11-18, the Russian superstar has recorded 20 tallies in 25 contests - never going more than one game without a goal. Defenseman Steven Oleksy made his season debut against the Kings after being recalled from Hershey of the American Hockey League on Tuesday, recording one shot and a minus-1 rating in 12:11 of ice time.
ABOUT THE DUCKS (35-14-7): Frederik Andersen is expected to miss his third straight game after being struck on the back of his head by the crossbar when the net fell on him in last Sunday's loss at Tampa Bay. John Gibson made his first start since Oct. 30 on Thursday and turned aside 35 shots in improving his record to 6-2-0 in nine NHL games. Beleskey's goal against the Hurricanes was his league-leading eighth game-winner of the season, one more than Ovechkin, New Jersey's Mike Cammalleri and Arizona defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
OVERTIME
1. The Ducks have won five of their last six home games and are 19-6-3 overall at Honda Center this season.
2. Ovechkin has recorded at least one point in three straight contests and six of his last seven.
3. Beleskey has a career-high 21 goals this campaign, the combined total from his previous three seasons.