Harry Lichtman
The Washington Capitals (31-23-7) head north of the border to finish a back-to-back. They will visit the Montreal Canadiens (32-17-8) at Bell Centre on Saturday night.
The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. ET.
The Capitals have now won their last three games, with the first win being right before the Olympic break. Now, they will seek their first four-game winning streak in nearly three months.
On Friday night, the Capitals claimed their fifth consecutive home win as they beat Vegas 3-2. It’s also the sixth win in their last seven games overall.
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored twice and has been on a roll in his return to the ice. After missing 47 games, Dubois has totaled five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in three games.
Meanwhile, Jakob Chychrun recorded his 22nd goal of the season. That’s the most by a Capitals defenseman in a single season since Mike Green (31) in 2008-09. Additionally, Chychrun was playing in his 600th career game on Friday.
With the win over Vegas, the Capitals now move within two points of a playoff berth. They also head into Saturday night with as the only Eastern Conference team with as many as 60 games played this season.
The Capitals took care of the Canadiens in five games in the first round of last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. This season, Washington has taken each of the first two meetings against Montreal.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens are currently in fourth place in a tight Atlantic Division. Montreal has earned at least a point in each of its last six games (4-0-2), but gave up multiple leads in their 4-3 overtime loss to the Islanders on Thursday.
Expected Capitals Lines
Forwards
Aliaksei Protas – Dylan Strome – Alex Ovechkin
Connor McMichael – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier – Justin Sourdif – Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime – Nic Dowd – Ethen Frank
Defensemen
Jakob Chychrun – Rasmus Sandin
Martin Fehervary – Matt Roy
Declan Chisholm – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goalies
Charlie Lindgren
Logan Thompson
Expected Canadiens Lines
Forwards
Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Kirby Dach
Juraj Slafkovsky – Oliver Kapanen – Ivan Demidov
Josh Anderson – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher
Alexandre Texier – Jake Evans – Alex Newhook
Defensemen
Lane Hutson – Noah Dobson
Mike Matheson – Kaiden Guhle
Arber Xhekaj – Alexandre Carrier
Goalies
Samuel Montembeault
Jakub Dobes
How to Watch
TV: Monumental Sports Network
Radio: 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio Network
