Washington @ Carolina preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 5, 2019 ) Carolina 3, Washington 2

The NHL-best Washington Capitals try to make it two straight victories coming out of the Christmas break when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. Washington remains the only team without back-to-back regulation losses this season after T.J. Oshie's overtime goal gave the Capitals a 2-1 win over Columbus on Friday.

Washington has 59 points and owns a 10-point bulge on the second-place New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division while enjoying a three-point cushion on St. Louis for the best record in the league. The break did nothing to reverse Carolina's fortunes as the Hurricanes lost their third straight, 5-3 at the New York Rangers on Friday. The Hurricanes have yielded an alarming 17 goals during their slide while the league's No. 6 penalty-killing unit entering Friday has gone cold by going 5-for-11 in the last three games. Jake Gardiner's overtime goal gave Carolina a 3-2 victory Oct. 5 in the first meeting since the Hurricanes stunned the Capitals in the first round of the playoffs last April.

TV: 7 p.m., NBCS Washington, FS Carolinas

ABOUT THE CAPITALS (27-7-5): Alex Ovechkin, who announced Friday that he will not participate in the All-Star Game next month, leads the club with 23 goals - eight more than Oshie and Jakub Vrana. John Carlson leads NHL defensemen in points by a wide margin with 48 but has been kept off the scoresheet in four of his last six games. Braden Holtby is expected to be in goal after Ilya Samsonov made 27 saves versus Columbus and is 16-6-1 with a 2.02 goals-against average and .935 save percentage lifetime versus Carolina.

ABOUT THE HURRICANES (22-14-2): Sebastian Aho scored his team-leading 22nd goal of the season Friday and is tied for third on the club in points with Dougie Hamilton (35). Teuvo Teravainen extended his point streak to six games with an assist versus New York and leads the team with 38 - one more than Andrei Svechnikov - after recording 12 in his last nine contests. Petr Mrazek will likely take the net after James Reimer stopped 19 shots Friday and is 3-5-2, 2.52, .917 versus Washington.

OVERTIME

1. The Capitals scored a power-play goal for the first time in six games Friday and are 1-for-20 during that span.

2. Carolina C Lucas Wallmark (seven goals, 17 points) has three goals and four assists during a career-high five-game point streak.

3. Washington D Michal Kempny (illness) missed Friday's game while D Christian Djoos was recalled from AHL Hershey and was a plus-1 in 12 minutes, 39 seconds of ice time in his season debut.

PREDICTION: Capitals 3, Hurricanes 2