Wild at Capitals
Two of the top NHL's top teams throughout the majority of the season will face off at the Verizon Center on Tuesday, although neither the Washington Capitals or Minnesota Wild have played much like it of late. Mired in a season-high four-game losing skid, the Washington Capitals will look to return to their winning ways against a Western Conference-leading Minnesota Wild team that has lost four of six.
"Obviously, we don't remember when we've lost four in a row - and that's a good thing," captain Alex Ovechkin (team-leading 27 goals) said after he saw his goal-scoring slump extend to a career-high 10 games following Sunday's 5-2 setback to Anaheim. "It's nice it's happening right now, before the playoffs, rather than during the playoffs. Obviously, for me, it's a little bit frustrating because the puck (doesn't) go in and you just maybe wait for something to happen or a miracle or something. You just have to work hard and fight through it." Devan Dubnyk has been fighting for his career-high 37th win, but to no avail as he surrendered two goals on his first two shots before being relieved in Sunday's 4-2 setback to Chicago. "We had a good talk this morning and he's the guy we're leaning on," former Capitals and current Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said of Dubnyk. "(Sunday) was a special circumstance. He's our guy and we’ll live and die with him."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Wisconsin, FSN North (Minnesota), CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE WILD (43-18-6): Minnesota has mustered just 14 goals in its last six games, with half of them coming in an offensive slugfest with Florida on Friday. Eric Staal scored two goals and set up another versus the Panthers and netted his fifth tally in five contests and 22nd of the season against the Blackhawks. Fellow veteran forward Jason Pominville scored and set up a goal versus Florida to increase his point total to 23 (five goals, 18 assists) in 20 games before unleashing six shots on goal against Chicago.
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (44-17-7): Washington cruised into its league-mandated five-day break by averaging 4.65 goals per game during a scintillating 17-2-1 mark, only to muster 26 tallies during a 5-7-1 stretch. The Capitals haven't helped matters by committing 16 minor penalties during their three-game California trek, with four power-play goals being the end result. "Any adversity is a good thing if you use it the right way," said reigning Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby, who has some of his own with 12 goals allowed in his last three starts. "If we're good enough to be a championship team, we will get through this. We'll push through and be better. But that's something we have to do."
OVERTIME
1. Washington C Marcus Johansson scored his 100th career goal on Sunday and resides two points shy of his career mark (47), set in 2014-15.
2. Minnesota's Martin Hanzal (flu) likely will miss the final two games of the road trip with fellow F Tyler Graovac expected to be recalled from Iowa of the American Hockey League, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
3. Should Ovechkin and his teammates want an answer, the Capitals last lost four straight in regulation in November 2014.