Colorado @ Washington preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 16, 2018 ) Washington 3, Colorado 2

The Washington Capitals are starting to resemble the team that won the Stanley Cup last season and not the one that recently lost seven straight and 10 of 13 as they host the struggling Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. Washington has won two of its last three games since snapping its longest slide since 2013-14 with T.J. Oshie recording two goals and seven assists in his last six contests.

"I said someone's going to set the tone for us and seems like every time I've brought that up, he seems to step right to the forefront," Capitals coach Todd Reirden said after Oshie scored his 16th goal of the season in Tuesday's 3-2 victory over Vancouver. Washington remains entrenched in playoff position - two points behind the first-place New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division - despite its rough patch but the same cannot be said for Colorado, which fell out of the top eight in the Western Conference and has lost four straight, eight of its last 10 and is 5-15-3 in its last 23. "We believe in this group," Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic told reporters after Tuesday's 6-3 loss to Columbus. "I know the group believes in themselves." The Capitals have won eight of the last nine meetings, including a 3-2 victory Nov. 16 in Denver on Nicklas Backstrom's power-play goal 22 seconds into overtime.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), NBCS Washington

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (22-22-8): In an effort to shake things up, coach Jared Bednar disassembled the NHL's most prolific line of Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog coming out of the NHL-mandated/All-Star break but put them back together Tuesday. It made no difference as MacKinnon provided the only point with an assist versus Columbus, giving the unit 200 points this season. All three goals Tuesday came from defensemen Erik Johnson, Sam Girard and Nikita Zadorov, giving them a combined 12 this season.

ABOUT THE CAPITALS (29-18-6): Oshie and Jakub Vrana are tied for second on the team in goals (16) behind only captain Alex Ovechkin (league-high 37) with Vrana scoring Tuesday for the first time in 10 games. Backstrom has 53 points, trailing Ovechkin by five for the club lead after compiling a goal and six assists in his last six contests. Braden Holtby (19-13-3, 3.01 goals-against average, .908 save percentage), who has allowed six goals in his last three games (two wins), is expected to play his 400th career game Thursday.

OVERTIME

1. Colorado's losing streak began with a stretch in which it plays nine straight games against teams in playoff position.

2. Ovechkin's first-period assist Tuesday gave him 1,180 points, surpassing Sergei Fedorov for most among Russian-born players.

3. The Avalanche are 6-for-10 on the penalty kill in their last three games and 1-for-13 on the power play in the past four.

PREDICTION: Capitals 3, Avalanche 2