Washington
1st Metropolitan41-20-5-3
Dallas
3rd Central37-24-5-3
NBCSWA, FS
Washington @ Dallas preview
American Airlines Center
Last Meeting ( Oct 8, 2019 ) Dallas 4, Washington 3
Washington and Dallas have played nothing but one-goal games this season as the Capitals try to exact some revenge when they visit the Stars on Saturday. Dallas has won three straight meetings after a 4-3 victory Tuesday in Washington on Tyler Seguin's overtime goal, but the clubs enter this one coming off Thursday losses.
The Stars are 0-1-1 at home this season after blowing a two-goal lead in a 3-2 shootout setback to Calgary. "It's early in the year. You can't be results-oriented,'' Dallas coach Jim Montgomery told reporters. "... We do think it was our best game of the year, against a really good team. But we're finding ways to let other teams come back. ..." The Capitals also led by two and allowed a pair of goals 28 seconds apart late in the third period of a 6-5 loss at Nashville. “We’re trying to find something that works,” Washington coach Todd Reirden told reporters about his early season line juggling. ‘Some players, you have them miss a few shifts because you haven’t liked how things have gone and you give another guy that’s going well, you give him a jolt to let him know to keep doing the things he is doing. That will have ebbs and flows to how those guys will take advantage of those opportunities and whether we continue to keep those combinations or not, we will review the film.”
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCS Washington, FS Southwest (Dallas)
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (2-1-2): Alex Ovechkin scored twice Thursday, giving him three goals this season and 661 for his career as the 34-year-old future Hall of Famer is showing no signs of slowing down. T.J. Oshie is also off to a fast start with three goals, scoring on his only shot against Nashville, but was a minus-2. Braden Holtby (1-1-2), who has allowed 15 goals on 114 shots this season, is expected between the pipes Saturday but is 2-4-2 with a 4.02 goals-against average and .867 save percentage in nine career games (eight starts) versus the Stars.
ABOUT THE STARS (1-3-1): Roope Hintz recorded an assist on the power play Thursday and paces the club with four goals, five points and a plus-3 rating. Seguin (two) is the only other multiple goal scorer on the team with linemates Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov each tallying once. Ben Bishop (1-2-1) is 4-6-2 with a 3.37 GAA and .891 SP in 13 games against Washington after making 29 saves Tuesday.
OVERTIME
1. Capitals D Michal Kempny (hamstring) traveled with the team but it is unclear whether he'll make his season debut Saturday.
2. Dallas is 1-for-14 on the power play and has killed 18-of-21 penalties while Washington is 4-for-20 and 12-for-15.
3. The last five meetings and eight of the last nine have been decided by one goal with the past three going overtime.
PREDICTION: Stars 3, Capitals 2