Stars at Capitals
The league-leading Washington Capitals are doing the best they can to repeat as Presidents' Trophy winners and attempt to record their fourth straight victory when they conclude a three-game homestand Monday against the Dallas Stars. Washington has won five of its last six overall contests - and a franchise-record 15 straight at home - after edging Philadelphia 2-1 in overtime Saturday on Nicklas Backstrom's 20th goal of the season.
But the Capitals enter the week with a five-point lead over Minnesota in the race for first overall in the NHL and are six ahead of red-hot Chicago, which has won seven in a row and 12 of its last 13 contests. Backstrom finished Saturday in a three-way tie for seventh in the league in scoring with 65 points despite notching only two over his last five games. Dallas followed a 3-2-0 homestand with a 2-1 triumph at Florida on Saturday and is seven points back in the battle for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Tyler Seguin is one of the players even in points with Backstrom after registering multi-point performances in six of his last nine contests.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington)
ABOUT THE STARS (26-29-10): Saturday's road win was just the eighth of the season for Dallas, which had been tied with Carolina for fewest in the NHL and had lost six in a row away from home. Jamie Benn trails Seguin by three points for the team lead thanks to a six-game streak during which he has collected five goals and four assists. The captain has notched at least one point in 24 of his last 31 contests and hasn't been kept off the scoresheet in consecutive games since Dec. 10 and 11.
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (44-13-7): Marcus Johansson set a career high on Tuesday, scoring a pair of goals to give him 21 on the season. The 26-year-old Swede, who netted 20 tallies in 2014-15, is one shy of the century mark in the NHL. Braden Holtby has gone 21 consecutive decisions without a regulation loss (19-0-2), which is the third-longest streak in franchise history behind Jose Theodore's 23-game run in 2009-10 (20-0-3) and Holtby's own 22-game string (20-0-2) last season.
OVERTIME
1. Stars RW Patrick Sharp has recorded only three points over his last eight games and needs three more to reach 600 for his career.
2. Washington F Daniel Winnik's next game will be his 700th in the NHL.
3. Dallas D John Klingberg, who scored the winning goal against Florida, has registered three tallies and four assists during his five-game point streak.