Hurricanes at Capitals
The Carolina Hurricanes appeared ready to move into playoff position in the Eastern Conference before last week, but three straight losses have halted their momentum. The Hurricanes will try to regain their footing and post a confidence-building victory on Monday as they visit the red-hot Washington Capitals, who have registered at least one point in 13 consecutive games (11-0-2).
Carolina, which entered Sunday two points out of the second wild-card spot, was outscored 11-2 in the first two games of the losing streak before outshooting Columbus 37-20 in a 3-2 setback on Saturday. “We wanted a good bounce-back, and I thought we did that,” Hurricanes center Jordan Staal told reporters. “I thought we played the way we wanted to play. Sometimes you don’t get results.” The Capitals aren’t having a problem with that after rallying from a two-goal deficit in the third period and edging Dallas 4-3 in overtime on Saturday. Nicklas Backstrom leads several players who are warming up offensively with four goals and 12 assists during his nine-game point streak.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Carolinas, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (21-18-7): Coach Bill Peters made a statement by scratching Teuvo Teravainen and defenseman Noah Hanifin on Saturday, and the Hurricanes were better at limiting chances against the Blue Jackets. Sebastian Aho notched his 12th goal – third on the team behind Jeff Skinner (17) and Victor Rask (13) – and blue-liner Justin Faulk scored his second in four games Saturday. Teravainen posted a minus-3 rating in two of his last five games and has recorded just one goal in the last 12 contests while Hanifin was minus-3 in Friday's 7-1 loss at Pittsburgh.
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (31-9-6): Backstrom leads the team with 46 points and captain Alex Ovechkin is keeping pace with a seven-game point streak during which he has recorded four goals and eight assists. It’s been supplementary scoring that has helped the most, as Evgeny Kuznetsov has notched 14 points in his last 10 games and T.J. Oshie has scored seven goals in his last 11 while fourth-liner Jay Beagle netted the winning tally on Saturday. Braden Holtby rested in favor of backup Philipp Grubauer on Saturday but is expected back in net as he owns a .932 save percentage this month.
OVERTIME
1. Washington LW Andre Burakovsky has scored in four consecutive games and notched at least one point in five straight.
2. The Capitals have converted eight of their last 16 power-play opportunities, while the Hurricanes lead the league in penalty-killing (88.7 percent).
3. Carolina has earned points in four straight games against Washington (2-0-2), posting a 1-0-1 mark this season.