Photo by John McCreary/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals complete their season series with the Ottawa Senators when they host them for the lone time in 2022-23 on Thursday night. The teams split the two meetings in the nation’s capital to the north with Ottawa taking the first one, 5-2, on October 20 before Washington responded with a 3-2 overtime victory this past Thursday. Action from Capital One Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington in-market or ESPN+ out-of-market starting at 7 PM ET.

SCHEDULE

Ottawa: begin short two-game road trip (at Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night), their lone two away from home in an eight-game stretch (1-0-1 so far)

Washington: open three-game homestand where all of their opponents reside from the Atlantic Division, continue stretch where they play seven of nine at home (5-1-0 so far)

RECORDS

Ottawa: 15-16-3/.485 points percentage – tied for last in Atlantic Division with Montreal Canadiens, T-13th in Eastern Conference; 6-8-2 on road, T-27th in NHL

Washington: 20-13-4/.595 points percentage – third in Metropolitan Division (but fifth in points percentage), fifth in Eastern Conference (eighth); 11-5-1 at home, eighth

HOW EACH TEAM IS DOING

Ottawa: 3-2 win over NHL-leading Boston Bruins on Tuesday snapped three-game losing streak (0-2-1), which followed an 8-2-1 stretch

Washington: have won five in a row and are 10-1-0 in last 20, 13-3-1 in their last 17 since dropping nine of their previous 11 (2-6-3)

TEAM LEADERS

Ottawa

• RW Claude Giroux (14 goals)
• LW Brady Tkachuk (24 assists, 37 points)
• D Thomas Chabot (26:09 TOI/game)

Notes: Giroux has gone scoreless in his last three; Tkachuk has 14 assists and 21 points in his last 21; Chabot has a -6 rating in his last five; RW Drake Batherson has seven goals, 16 points over an 11-game point-streak and has 11 assists, 19 points in his last 15; RW Alex DeBrincat has seven goals and 20 points in his last 19, including 11 assists and 16 points in 12 games this month, seven assists and 11 points in his last six, and goals in back-to-back outings

Washington

• LW Alex Ovechkin (22 goals, 41 points)
• C Evgeny Kuznetsov (24 assists)
• D Dmitry Orlov (22:07 TOI/game) — excluding D John Carlson

Notes: Ovechkin, 37, has 20 goals and 36 points in his last 31, including nine goals, 16 points, five multi-point efforts in his last 11; Kuznetsov, 30, has 11 assists and 13 points over his last 12, including a goal and six points in his last five; LW Anthony Mantha ended a three-game scoring drought with an assist in Washington’s 4-0 win at the New York Rangers on Tuesday but has just two assists in his last six; D Erik Gustafsson has a +14 rating over his last nine and five goals, nine points over a five-game point-streak; LW Sonny Milano has two goals, six points in his last six; LW Conor Sheary has three assists, four points in his last two; C Nic Dowd has four goals, six points in his last seven; LW Marcus Johansson has two goals in his last three

KEY TEAM STATS

Goals-per-game:                 OTT – 3.00 (24th)         WSH – 3.11 (18th)

Goals-against per game:   OTT – 3.18 (17th)           WSH – 2.70 (T-7th)

Power Play:                          OTT – 28.2% (4th)        WSH – 21.1% (20th)

Penalty Kill:                         OTT – 80.5% (11th)       WSH – 81.7% (6th)

Shots-per-game:                 OTT – 33.2 (7th)            WSH – 31.6 (16th)

Shots-against per game:   OTT – 33 (20th)             WSH – 30.1 (11th)

Faceoff-winning %:           OTT – 53.2% (4th)         WSH – 48.8% (21st)

5v5 Corsi-for %:                 OTT – 51.66% (10th)     WSH – 50.99% (15th)

5v5 x Goals-For %:            OTT – 51.24% (15th)      WSH – 51.54% (13th)

5v5 SCF %:                          OTT – 52.09% (10th)     WSH – 51.52% (12th)

5v5 Shooting %:                 OTT – 6.46% (31st)        WSH – 7.88% (24th)

5v5 Save %:                         OTT – .9177 (17th)         WSH – .9237 (9th)

5v5 PDO:                             OTT – .982 (29th)          WSH – 1.003 (T-14th)

EXPECTED STARTING GOALTENDERS

Ottawa: Cam Talbot, 35 — 9-8-1, .915 save percentage, 2.66 goals-against average, one shutout in 20 games this season; 4-7-1, .913 save percentage, 2.64 goals-against average in 14 career games vs. Washington, including 37 saves (.925 save percentage) in Thursday’s overtime loss

Washington: Charlie Lindgren, 29 — 10-4-2, .912 save percentage, 2.60 goals-against average in 17 games this season; first career start vs. Ottawa

INJURIES/ILLNESSES

Ottawa

• C Josh Norris (shoulder, will miss 30th straight game, out indefinitely)
• D Jacob Bernard-Docker (high-ankle sprain, 18th, indefinite)
• D Artem Zub (jaw, 11th, week-to-week)
• RW Mathieu Joseph (lower-body, ninth, indefinite)
• D Nikita Zaitsev (lower-body, first, day-to-day)
• LW Tyler Motte (broken finger, second, indefinite)
• C Rourke Chautier (upper-body, second, day-to-day)

Washington

• Carlson (upper-body, second, indefinite)
• D Martin Fehervary (lower-body, 12th, day-to-day)
• RW Connor Brown (ACL, 34th, indefinite)
• LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 38th, indefinite)
• RW Tom Wilson (ACL, 38th, indefinite)
• C Nicklas Backstrom (hip/COVID-19 protocol, 38th, indefinite)
• RW T.J. Oshie (upper-body, fifth, day-to-day)

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Ottawa

Tkachuk — Tim Stutzle — Giroux
DeBrincat — Shane Pinto — Batherson
Derick Brassard — Mark Kastelic — Austin Watson
Jake Lucchini — Dylan Gambrell — Parker Kelly

Chabot — Erik Brannstrom
Jake Sanderson — Travis Hamonic
Dillon Heatherington — Nick Holden

Talbot
Anton Forsberg

Scratched: D Jacob Larsson

Washington

Ovechkin — Strome — Sheary
Milano — Kuznetsov — Mantha
Johansson — Lars Eller — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Aliaksei Protas — Dowd — Garnet Hathaway

Gustafsson — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Orlov — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev — Matt Irwin

Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: LW Joe Snively, D Lucas Johansen

By Harrison Brown