Capitals at Islanders
The Washington Capitals began a stretch of winning six of their last seven games with a 3-2 home victory over the New York Islanders on Feb. 4. The NHL-leading Capitals look to continue their good fortune at the Islanders' expense when the teams reconvene at Barclays Center on Thursday.
Andre Burakovsky scored in that meeting with New York as part of his six-goal outburst in five games and also tallied in Washington's last two contests - a 4-3 setback to Dallas on Saturday and a 3-1 triumph versus Los Angeles three nights later. New York, which is 4-1-0 in its last five games overall, is well-rested after breezing to a 4-1 victory over Detroit on Monday afternoon. Thomas Greiss turned aside 28 shots to record his career-high fifth straight win and improve to 16-6-2 this season. The 30-year-old German could be back between the pipes with Jaroslav Halak struggling mightily since the All-Star break - the former Capital has posted a 1-3-0 mark with a gaudy 4.64 goals-against average and porous .842 save percentage.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSMA (Washington), MSG-Plus (New York)
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (41-10-4): Evgeny Kuznetsov also tallied against the Kings for his 16th point (one goal, 15 assists) in his past 11 games. The 23-year-old Russian leads Washington with 57 points while his four game-winning goals trail only Marcus Johansson (seven) and captain Alex Ovechkin (six) for the team lead. Braden Holtby has turned aside 58 of 61 shots to win both outings versus New York and improve to 9-1-2 with a 2.10 goals-against average in his career versus the club.
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (30-19-6): Captain John Tavares set up a goal versus the Red Wings to extend his point streak to six games (four goals, six assists). Tavares' offense has helped New York outscore its foes by a 22-7 margin en route to winning all four games in Brooklyn this month. The Islanders hope that home cooking continues as they'll open a seven-game road trip and play 12 of their next 14 away from the Barclays Center.
OVERTIME
1. New York LW Josh Bailey, who tallied versus Detroit on Monday, scored and set up a goal in his last meeting with Washington.
2. The Capitals have scored at least once in the third period in each of the last 20 contests.
3. The Islanders are 7-for-22 on the power play in the last six games.