Washington @ Carolina preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 28, 2019 ) Washington 4, Carolina 6

The Carolina Hurricanes won the final two games of their first-round playoff series against the Washington Capitals last spring and continued that stretch by defeating their Metropolitan Division rivals in their first two encounters this season. The Hurricanes look to continue their mastery of Washington on Friday when the teams meet in Raleigh, N.C.

Warren Foegele collected four goals and two assists as Carolina won a spirited seven-game series versus Washington in April before adding two of each in two victories over the Capitals this season. "It's always competitive playing against these guys. We don't like them. They don't like us. It's that simple," the 23-year-old said following Carolina's 6-4 victory over the Capitals last Saturday. While the Hurricanes followed up that win with a 3-1 triumph over Montreal to begin their season-high seven-game homestand, the Capitals dropped a 4-3 decision to the New York Islanders to lose consecutive contests in regulation for the first time this season. "We haven't been as sharp as we were at different points of the season," Washington coach Todd Reirden said. "The mistakes we're making now are ending up in our net. So we've got to continue to grow our game. It's definitely not a finished product, and something we've got to focus on here in the second half of the year is cleaning up some areas."

TIME: 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: NHL Network, TVAS, FS Carolinas, NBCS Washington-Plus

ABOUT THE CAPITALS (27-9-5): Reirden has been quick to praise Evgeny Kutznetsov after the 27-year-old Russian scored in Saturday's setback to Carolina and added two more goals against the Islanders. "I really liked his game. Besides the two goals, he had some other chances and set up some other plays," Reirden said of Kuznetsov, who has dented the scoresheet in eight of his last 11 games. Kuznetsov's countryman Alex Ovechkin enters Friday's contest on a four-game point streak (two goals, two assists), a stretch that includes his team-leading 24th goal in the encounter with the Hurricanes.

ABOUT THE HURRICANES (24-14-2): Lucas Wallmark enters Friday's game on a career-high seven-game point streak (four goals, five assists), during which he scored a power-play goal in the first period against Washington on Saturday. Teuvo Teravainen, who leads the team with 33 assists and 40 points, set up a pair of goals on Tuesday for his ninth multi-point game of the season and 58th career. The 25-year-old Finn has notched an assist in seven of his last eight games, with the lone exception being Saturday's contest versus the Capitals.

OVERTIME

1. Washington D Carlson notched two of his club-best 37 assists in Saturday's meeting with Carolina.

2. Hurricanes LW Erik Haula collected a goal and an assist on Tuesday to give him three of each in five games since returning from injury.

3. Capitals G Braden Holtby sports a 16-7-1 record with two shutouts, a 2.15 goals-against average and .931 save percentage against Carolina.

PREDICTION: Hurricanes 3, Capitals 2