Bruins at Capitals
Less than 24 hours after wrapping up their three-game road trip with a tough loss, the league-leading Washington Capitals return to the comforts of home Wednesday for a matchup against the Boston Bruins. Washington took an early lead Tuesday before allowing three straight goals en route to a 3-2 setback against the New York Islanders that concluded a 1-2-0 trek.
The Capitals have been playing extremely well at the Verizon Center, however, winning all seven of their contests there in January and going 8-0-1 since dropping a 2-1 decision to Montreal on Dec. 17. While Washington looks to extend its home winning streak, Boston is aiming for its fourth consecutive overall victory after posting a 4-3 triumph at Tampa Bay on Tuesday. All-Star Brad Marchand recorded his third straight two-point performance with a pair of assists to raise his team-leading point total to 51 as the Bruins halted a three-game road slide (0-2-1) during which they scored one goal on two occasions. Nicklas Backstrom, who notched an assist Tuesday, scored at 1:36 of overtime on Dec. 7 as Washington registered a 4-3 home victory over Boston after squandering a three-goal lead.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Ontario, TVA
ABOUT THE BRUINS (26-21-6): Jimmy Hayes' quest to reach the 100-point plateau for his career continues, as he remains two away from the mark after having his drought extend to 10 games Tuesday. The 27-year-old Boston native has notched only three points in 39 contests this season after registering 29 over 75 games in 2015-16 — his first campaign with the Bruins. David Pastrnak has fallen one goal behind Marchand (21) for the team lead as he has scored just once in his last 20 contests.
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (33-11-6): Justin Williams is showing no signs of slowing down as he rises in age, as the 35-year-old is three tallies shy of the sixth 20-goal season of his career and one point away from reaching 30 for the seventh straight campaign. Williams also needs three assists for 400 in his career. Captain Alex Ovechkin has not been kept off the scoresheet in consecutive contests since a three-game drought from Dec. 1-5 while Washington had been riding a 14-game point streak (12-0-2) prior to its road trip.
OVERTIME
1. Capitals All-Star G Braden Holtby, who has gone 9-0-1 over his last 12 starts, is expected to be in net Wednesday.
2. Boston C Frank Vatrano became the team's 12th player to score a game-winning goal with his tally Tuesday.
3. Washington C Evgeny Kuznetsov has scored five of his 10 goals this season over his last six games.