The Washington Capitals will look to extend their 10-game road winning streak when they visit the Dallas Stars on Monday night.
If Washington prevails, it will have a chance to equal the NHL record of 12 straight road wins (2005-06 Detroit Red Wings, 2014-15 Minnesota Wild) at Chicago on Tuesday night.
First, however, the Capitals will have to contend with a Stars team that is 12-3-0 at home this season.
On Saturday, Matt Duchene scored 2:31 into overtime to give the Stars a 2-1 victory over the visiting St. Louis Blues.
“We’re not scoring easily right now,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “We’re creating quality chances, they’re just not going in right now. When that happens, you want to make sure you’re still trying to pick up points.
“I like how we’re defending, we’re not giving up a lot, so that gives us a chance to still win games until we get that shooting confidence back again.”
The Stars have scored more than two goals only once in their past six games but are 3-3-0 during that stretch.
On Saturday, Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist and Jake Oettinger made 15 saves. Oettinger is 11-2-0 at home with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.
Robertson has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past three games. He hopes the Stars, who have won two of their last three, can build momentum as they continue a six-game homestand.
“We want to take the next step,” he said. “I believe in the past couple of games that we have done some good things, so we want to try to keep it rolling.”
Washington is rolling as well. With Saturday’s 4-2 home win against the Buffalo Sabres, the Capitals have won four straight and boast a nine-game point streak (8-0-1), the longest in the NHL this season.
Dylan Strome converted a John Carlson pass for the go-ahead goal in the third period after Tom Wilson scored a pair of power-play goals. Jakob Chychrun had an empty-netter and an assist, Carlson had three assists and Logan Thompson made 19 saves.
“We did some things right,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “Power play, huge. Penalty kill did a great job. (Thompson) made some timely, huge saves.”
The Capitals were 2-for-3 on the power play and have 11 power-play goals in their past 10 games. Buffalo was 0-for-2 with the man advantage.
Wilson, playing with a full face shield due to a broken sinus bone he suffered Dec. 7 in Montreal, notched his third multi-goal effort in seven games and has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in his past 11 games.
His goals accounted for Washington’s scoring in the first two periods.
“We’re having fun playing together,” Wilson said. “We come in in the second intermission, (and) we know we’re in a tie game against a team that we probably should be taking it to them, and we’ve got to find a way to get it done. We go out there and (Carlson) and (Strome) make a huge play.”
–Field Level Media
