Washington goes for third straight win; Toronto turns to backup McElhinney in goal
ByDave McCarthy
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
CAPITALS (13-10-1) at MAPLE LEAFS (15-8-1) 7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, NBCSWA+, NHL.TV
Braden Holtby will start for the Capitals, who defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 on Friday and are 3-1-0 in their past four games. Backup Curtis McElhinney will start for the Maple Leafs, who defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 on Friday and are 1-1-1 in their past three games after winning six straight.
Players to watch
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin scored the 573rd goal of his NHL career on Friday tying him with Mike Bossy for 21st on the all-time list. He leads the Capitals with 15 goals and is tied for second in the League with John Tavares of the New York Islanders, two behind Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov. Maple Leafs forward Nazem Kadri had an assist against the Hurricanes to extend his point streak to a career-high nine games (five goals, five assists).
They said it
"I don't know if it's mental fatigue or physically guys can't get themselves going that second night. I don't know what the issue has been so far but we're going to try and fix it. Really there are no excuses, everybody has to do it so we'll try to play smart if you don't have your legs but mentally we just have to get ourselves ready to go." -- Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen on the team's 0-4-0 record in the second of back-to-back games "These games are tough when you play last night, travel and get in late. You come to the rink this morning, just want to get your head right, get ready physically and mentally and it's just a matter of experience. The more of these you play, the more comfortable you become." -- Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly on playing back-to-back games
Polak will play after missing the past 10 games as a healthy scratch. ... Moore and Martin will each return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch against the Hurricanes.
Stat pack
Oshie has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past six games. … Kuznetsov has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past six games. … Orlov has three points (one goal, two assists) in his past four games… Van Riemsdyk has eight points (six goals, two assists) in his past seven games.
