(Sports Network) - The Washington Capitals will aim for their fifth consecutive victory when they host the Boston Bruins tonight at the Version Center.
This evening's tilt marks the opener of a home-and-home series between the clubs and Boston will host the Capitals on Thursday. Washington won three of four against the Bruins in the 2009-10 series and the Capitals have taken seven of nine overall from Boston. However, the B's have managed to earn six wins in their last 11 trips to D.C.
The Capitals haven't lost since dropping their season opener in Atlanta on October 8 and Bruce Boudreau's club earned a fourth straight win Saturday in Nashville, handing the Predators their first loss of the season in the process.
Brooks Laich's power-play goal 1:44 into overtime gave the Capitals a 3-2 victory over the Predators at Bridgestone Arena. Alex Ovechkin, who drew a tripping penalty against Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter in the extra session, fired a slap shot from the point that Laich deflected over Predators goaltender Anders Lindback.
"(Nashville) is a very fast-skating team," said Laich. "I thought they did a good job pressuring us for the first 30 minutes. Midway through the second, we started taking to them. We started to tilt the ice a little bit in the third period and took over."
The Capitals trailed 2-0 heading into the third period, but erased the two- goal deficit with tallies from Alexander Semin and Tomas Fleischmann. Michal Neuvirth also made 37 saves as Washington won its fifth straight game against Nashville.
The 22-year-old Neuvirth has started every game for Washington this year and has a stellar 2.16 goals-against average and .930 save percentage. Neuvirth may get the call again tonight despite the fact that Semyon Varlamov, who was Washington's starter in each of the club's last two postseasons, is back from a groin injury. Varlamov dressed for the first time in Saturday's win over the Preds.
In injury news for Washington, forward Matt Bradley (lower body) and defensemen Mike Green (stinger) andTom Poti (lower body) are all questionable for tonight's game.
Boston played its first game in North America on Saturday and disposed of the Devils, 4-1, in New Jersey. Tim Thomas made 31 saves and the Bruins scored all four of their goals in the second period to secure their second straight win.
The Bruins were playing their first game since returning from the Czech Republic, where Boston split a two-game series against Phoenix in Prague.
Jordan Caron, Shawn Thornton, Milan Lucic and Michael Ryder had the goals for the Bruins on Saturday
"I think it's fun for the whole team to see that every line was able to contribute, and all of them were pretty nice goals, I think," said Boston head coach Claude Julien.
Thomas has started the last two games in net for Boston and the former Vezina Trophy winner could get the start over Tuukka Rask again tonight. However, with three games for Boston in the next five days, Rask, who won the No. 1 job from Thomas last season, will likely get at least one start this week.
Ovechkin has 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) in 20 career games against the Bruins. Washington's superstar winger had three goals and three assists in four games during the 2009-10 season series.