The Washington Capitals (24-17-6) continue their three-game homestand on Thursday night. They will host the San Jose Sharks (23-19-3) at Capital One Arena.
The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. ET.
The Capitals began the homestand on Tuesday when they rallied to beat Montreal 3-2 in OT. The team trailed 2-0 in the third when Ethen Frank scored twice, while Connor McMichael recorded the game-winner.
Frank has been on a roll lately with four goals in his last three games. In fact, the last three goals came from around the same spot, between the hash marks.
Since scoring twice against Montreal on Nov. 20, Frank has 10 goals on the season. He is tied with Aliaksei Protas for fourth on the team across that stretch.
If the Capitals beat the Sharks on Thursday night, they will have strung together victories for the first time since early December. Washington’s previous winning streak was capped with a sixth consecutive victory against San Jose on Dec. 3.
Meanwhile, San Jose opens a four-game road trip where they play two sets of back-to-back games. They head to Detroit on Friday, then take a day off, and then head south to face Florida and Tampa Bay.
San Jose last played on Sunday at home when its three-game winning streak was ended by Vegas 7-2. The Sharks have surrendered exactly seven goals against in each of their last three losses. The team also gave up seven goals to the Capitals when they lost 7-1 in early December.
Expected Capitals Lines
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Ethen Frank
Aliaksei Protas – Connor McMichael – Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime – Nic Dowd – Anthony Beauvillier
Sonny Milano – Hendrix Lapierre – Brett Leason
Defensemen
Martin Fehervary – John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun – Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin – Dylan McIlrath
Goalie
Logan Thompson
Expected Sharks Lines
Forwards
Igor Chernyshov – Macklin Celebrini – Collin Graf
William Eklund – Alexander Wennberg – Tyler Toffoli
Pavol Regenda – Michael Misa – Adam Gaudette
Barclay Goodrow – Zach Ostapchuk – Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
Dmitry Orlov – John Klingberg
Mario Ferraro – Timothy Liljegren
Sam Dickinson – Vincent Iorio
Goalie
Alex Nedeljkovic
How to Watch
TV: Monumental Sports Network
Radio: 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio Network
