Capitals at Senators
After falling flat in their first opportunity to clinch the Metropolitan Division, the Washington Capitals look to accomplish the feat and snap a three-game road skid (0-2-1) on Tuesday when they visit the Ottawa Senators. Veteran forward Jason Chimera used his noggin to score a goal on Sunday, but his team had its head served on a platter after yielding four consecutive tallies en route to a 6-2 setback to Pittsburgh.
"We've just got to move on from it, move on to the next game," Chimera told the Monumental Sports Network. "It's one of those things, you've just got to forget about these games." Chimera answered a nine-game stretch without a point by collecting two in his last three contests and had three assists in the Capitals' 7-1 rout of the Senators on Jan. 10. Ottawa likely did its best to forget that trouncing, but it posted its third win in four outings with a 5-0 triumph over Montreal on Saturday to reside seven points behind Detroit for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, CSMA (Washington), RDS2, WPCW, TSN5 (Ottawa), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (51-15-5): Captain Alex Ovechkin has been held off the scoresheet in back-to-back contests, but the three-time Hart Trophy winner rarely is silent against Ottawa. Ovechkin, who leads the league with 42 goals, tallied twice in his last meeting with the Senators to increase his point total to 39 (22 goals, 17 assists) in 36 career encounters with the club. Nicklas Backstrom set up three tallies in that contest, but has been held off the scoresheet in each of his last three outings overall.
ABOUT THE SENATORS (34-31-8): Alex Chiasson scored for the second straight contest on Saturday when he netted one of Ottawa's three short-handed goals versus the Canadiens. Mika Zibanejad tipped in Mike Hoffman's shot to extend both forwards' point streaks to four games, with the former scoring three goals and setting up two others during that stretch while the latter has one tally and four assists. Hoffman netted his team's lone goal in the listless loss to Washington in January.
OVERTIME
1. Ottawa is 0-for-23 on the power play in the last nine games and 1-for-7 versus Washington this season.
2. The Capitals are a staggering 13-0-1 in the contest that follows a regulation loss this season.
3. Senators G Craig Anderson will look to secure his third 30-win season on Tuesday versus Washington, against which he owns an 11-6-1 mark with two shutouts in his career.