Capitals at Panthers
The Washington Capitals look to remain unbeaten on the road this season and continue their recent domination in the all-time series when they visit the Florida Panthers on Saturday. The Capitals, who have earned at least a point in 13 consecutive games (11-0-2) against the Panthers, edged Columbus 2-1 on Friday for their sixth victory in seven games overall.
Captain Alex Ovechkin has had a field day against Florida in his career, posting 32 goals and 35 assists in 52 games, and has recorded at least one point in seven of his eight contests this season. The Panthers attempt to finish a see-saw month with a victory after dropping a 3-1 decision at home to Boston on Friday. Florida was without leading scorer Jaromir Jagr (lower body) in that contest, and the future Hall-of-Famer is questionable for the Saturday while linemate Aleksander Barkov (hand) likely will miss a few more weeks. The Panthers have allowed two power-play goals in three of their last five games and will have to be sharper against Washington, which is 3-0-0 on the road.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSN-DC Plus (Washington), FSN Florida
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (7-2-0): T.J. Oshie, acquired in a big offseason deal with St. Louis, is off to a strong start as he recorded his fourth goal on Friday to push his point total to eight. The other key addition up front for Washington netted the other goal against Columbus as veteran Justin Williams registered his second of the campaign. Braden Holtby defeated the Blue Jackets for his sixth victory of the month, but coach Barry Trotz told reporters after the game that backup Philipp Grubauer would get his second start of the season on Saturday.
ABOUT THE PANTHERS (5-4-1): Nick Bjugstad must pick up his offensive production with Jagr and Barkov sidelined, and he has responded with four points in his last four contests. The Panthers need more from former Calder Trophy winner Jonathan Huberdeau , who has yet to score his first goal while notching four assists in his first 10 games. Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov suffered a broken nose and his status is uncertain after Boston’s Brad Marchand drilled him into the boards late in the third period.
OVERTIME
1. Washington C Evgeny Kuznetsov recorded 12 points in a six-game span before being held without a shot on goal Friday.
2. Florida G Roberto Luongo is 20-10-0 lifetime against Washington and backup Al Montoya has won his only two starts this season.
3. Capitals D John Carlson is among the league leaders for blue-liners with 10 points, leaving him one shy of 200 for his career.