Capitals face Hurricanes riding 13-game point streak (Jan 23, 2017)
WASHINGTON -- The Washington Capitals continued their high-scoring ways during a three-game road trip. Now, they'll make a quick stop home before heading back out on the road for three more.
The Capitals (31-9-6) bring a 13-game point streak into Monday night's matchup against a Carolina Hurricanes team that has lost three straight.
Washington is 11-0-2 during its streak and has outscored opponents 59-27. The Capitals completed a 2-0-1 road trip with 4-3 overtime win Saturday night at Dallas, a place where the Capitals hadn't won since Oct. 25, 2008.
Washington trailed 3-1 before getting two third-period power-play scores. Jay Beagle netted the winner just 19 seconds into overtime and the Capitals remained atop the Metropolitan Division.
"It was obviously huge. Our power play got some chances and got two big goals," Beagle told NHL.com. "It was just never a doubt. We're playing good right now, we're playing confident and we came into here in the second intermission and we said we're taking this game over and we're going to win. So, that's the kind of confidence you've got to play with."
Backup goalie Philipp Grubauer stopped 32 shots to improve to 9-1-2 with 2.05 goals-against average.
The Capitals appeared headed for yet another Lone Star state loss until Alex Ovechkin notched his 22nd goal and linemate T.J. Oshie followed with his 17th.
"Sometimes, those games where you don't play very well but you gut one out anyways, those are big team-builders," Matt Niskanen told the Washington Post. "I think that's going to be a big one for us in the future."
Carolina (21-18-7) outshot Columbus 37-20 on Saturday night, but Scott Hartnell of the Blue Jackets scored the game-winner midway through the third period.
Sebastian Aho and Justin Faulk scored and backup goalie Michael Leighton made 17 saves for the Hurricanes, who were coming off a 7-1 loss to the Penguins on Friday.
"We wanted a good bounce back. I thought we did that," Jordan Staal told NHL.com. "We played the way we wanted to play. Sometimes you don't get the results."
Despite the three straight losses, Carolina currently sits just outside of playoff position in the Eastern Conference. The Hurricanes have split their first two meetings with Washington, earning three points in the process.
Washington continues to be generous with the power play, giving Dallas six chances on Saturday. The Hurricanes, however, have not been capitalizing on such opportunities.
Carolina was 0-for-15 in the seven games before Saturday and now is 2-for-42 in the 16 games since Dec. 16. The Hurricanes rank 23rd in the NHL on the power play, scoring at 16.5 percent.
"Having a strong power play is huge," Elias Lindholm told the Raleigh News & Observer. "Pretty much every game is a one-goal game. As it is now, we don't create enough. We need to at least get some momentum off the power play but in a lot of games we haven't even gotten that."
On the flip side, Carolina's penalty killers are tops in the NHL.
Ovechkin will be happy to welcome Carolina to Verizon Center. He has 32 goals and 45 assists in 67 games versus the Hurricanes, while Nicklas Backstrom has 14 goals and 37 assists in 47 games.
Justin Williams has 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) in his last 14 games overall while Ovechkin has 12 points in his last seven.
Braden Holtby is 9-4 with a 1.90 goals-against average against the Hurricanes, while Carolina's Cam Ward is 17-15-5 with a 2.59 GAA versus the Capitals.
Jeff Skinner has 11 goals and 11 assists in 31 games against Washington.
