Washington @ Columbus preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 9, 2019 ) Columbus 5, Washington 2

The NHL-best Washington Capitals will try to avenge their only regulation loss in the last 10 games when they visit the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets for a Metropolitan Division battle Monday night. The Capitals are 8-1-1 in the last 10 contests after a strong third period led to a 5-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Saturday, but have lost four of the past five to Columbus following a 5-2 setback last Monday at home.

Washington, which finally has an empty injured list, spent most of the second period in the penalty box Saturday before scoring four times in the final 20 minutes to improve its total to 53 points - five ahead of Boston for the most in the league. “We regrouped, we talked about it between the second and the third,” Capitals coach Todd Reirden told reporters. “It was up to us to get back to our game for the third where, if we do that, (we) come out with the outcome we wanted.” The Blue Jackets’ win in Washington was their only one in the last seven games (1-4-2), but they battled back from two goals down to tie at Ottawa on Saturday before losing 4-3 in the extra session. “The most important thing for our team is we have to take it one game at a time,” Columbus coach John Tortorella told reporters. “We have a lot of things going on with our club. You want to win now, but I also have to realize. … you have to look at the future, too. That’s just the lay of the land with our team right now. That doesn’t let anybody off the hook as far as trying to win games. My biggest problem the last couple of days is the total lack of energy in our room. It’s unacceptable.”

TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, NBCS Washington, FS Ohio (Columbus)

ABOUT THE CAPITALS (24-5-5): Washington got at least one goal from every line in Saturday’s victory as Garnet Hathaway and Lars Eller joined T.J. Oshie (two) and Nicklas Backstrom on the scoresheet. “It’s important getting contributions throughout the lineup,” forward Brendan Leipsic told reporters. “It’s not going to happen like that every night. … We didn’t have the second we wanted. ...But we got back to our game, we got pucks deep, we were rolling everybody out.” Backstrom has two goals and six assists during a six-game point streak and Oshie boasts three of his 14 goals in the past two contests.

ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (12-14-6): Center Pierre-Luc Dubois leads the team with 10 goals, but has gone 10 games without one, while right wing Cam Atkinson picked it up recently with four of his eight tallies in the past five contests - two last week at Washington. Forwards Josh Anderson (upper body) and Sonny Milano (concussion) both left Saturday’s game early and defenseman Ryan Murray was also lost with an upper-body injury. Goalie Joonas Korpisalo (12-10-3) made 37 saves last week to improve to 2-0-0 in his career against the Capitals and owns a .925 save percentage in his last eight appearances overall.

OVERTIME

1. Columbus F Alexandre Texier scored twice in Saturday’s loss and has four points in his last four contests.

2. Washington D John Carlson has nine of his team-leading 45 points in the last seven games, but was blanked by Columbus.

3. The Blue Jackets are 0-for-18 with the man advantage the last five games and have allowed a power-play goal in five the past six contests.

PREDICTION: Capitals 5, Blue Jackets 2