Hurricanes at Capitals
The Washington Capitals are threatening to run the league's points race into a runaway for the second straight season as they prepare to host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. The reigning Presidents' Trophy winners are in the midst of a 16-2-1 that included a 6-1 drubbing of the Hurricanes on Jan. 23.
Washington owns a seven-point lead over Columbus and Pittsburgh atop the Metropolitan Division and has been an offensive machine at Verizon Center. The Capitals are riding a nine-game home winning streak and have scored at least five goals in each of their last eight in that span. Last month's drubbing at Washington was part of a five-game skid in which Carolina managed only five goals, but the Hurricanes rebounded by scoring 12 times and ripping off three straight wins. "We need all the points we can get," defensive Ron Hainsey said after his two-goal game in Saturday's 5-4 overtime win at the New York Islanders. "That's kind of the bottom line."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington), FSN Carolina
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (24-20-7): Rookie Sebastian Aho was held off the scoresheet against the Islanders, but he did enough damage in his previous two games to be named the NHL's First Star of the Week. The 19-year-old Finnish star registerd his first career hat trick against Philadelphia before delivering the game-winning goal in a 2-1 victory over Edmonton. Aho not only has six goals in his last eight games overall, but he has a pair of tallies and four assists in three games versus Washington.
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (36-11-6): Forward T.J. Oshie reached 20 goals once in seven seasons with St. Louis, but he hit the mark for the second time in as many seasons with Washington, scoring his 20th Sunday to pull within six of his career high established in 2015-16. Oshie has eight goals and eight assists in his last 13 games and has scored twice in three meetings with Carolina this season. Goaltender Braden Holtby, unbeaten since Dec. 29. is 10-4-0 with a 1.84 goals-against average versus Carolina.
OVERTIME
1. The Capitals have outscored the opposition 45-12 during the nine-game home winning streak, which is four shy of the franchise mark (2009-10).
2. Hurricanes C Elias Lindholm has five assists during a three-game point streak.
3. Capitals C Nicklas Backstrom has 53 points in 53 games this season and 52 in 48 contests against Carolina.