Montreal faces Washington on 4-game home slide

Washington Capitals (25-14-9, fourth in the Metropolitan) vs. Montreal Canadiens (8-30-7, eighth in the Atlantic)

Montreal; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Montreal hosts Washington looking to break its four-game home slide.

The Canadiens are 4-17-2 in conference games. Montreal serves 11.0 penalty minutes per game, the most in the Eastern Conference. Michael Pezzetta leads the team serving 68 total minutes.

The Capitals are 16-7-4 in conference games. Washington ranks seventh in the Eastern Conference averaging 5.2 assists per game, led by Evgeny Kuznetsov with 0.7.

In their last meeting on Nov. 24, Washington won 6-3.

TOP PERFORMERS: Nicholas Suzuki has 27 total points for the Canadiens, nine goals and 18 assists. Tyler Toffoli has four goals and four assists over the last 10 games for Montreal.

Alex Ovechkin leads the Capitals with 29 goals and has 59 points. Kuznetsov has 10 points over the last 10 games for Washington.

LAST 10 GAMES: Canadiens: 1-6-3, averaging 2.6 goals, 4.4 assists, 5.2 penalties and 15 penalty minutes while giving up 4.9 goals per game with an .864 save percentage.

Capitals: 4-6-0, averaging 2.9 goals, 4.3 assists, 3.2 penalties and 6.9 penalty minutes while allowing 2.8 goals per game with a .908 save percentage.

INJURIES: Canadiens: Rafael Harvey-Pinard: out (health protocols), Louie Belpedio: out (covid-19), Gianni Fairbrother: out (covid-19), David Savard: out (ankle).

Capitals: Michal Kempny: out (health protocols), Vitek Vanecek: day to day (upper body).

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