Capitals playing to stay in postseason hunt in game vs. Senators

The Washington Capitals will seek to apply the brakes on their five-game skid Sunday evening when they host the Ottawa Senators.

Superstar captain Alex Ovechkin continued his goal-scoring binge by tallying twice in the first period on Friday, but the Capitals (36-30-10, 82 points) surrendered four unanswered goals in a 4-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Washington, which is 0-4-1 in its past five games, resides one point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Ovechkin has 11 goals in his past 11 games to boost his team-leading total to 29 on the season. The three-time Hart Trophy recipient has just one assist in the first two meetings against Ottawa this season. The Senators breezed to a 6-1 romp in Ottawa on Oct. 18 before Washington countered with a 6-3 victory at home on Feb. 26.

Defenseman John Carlson scored a goal in each game of the season series vs. the Senators. Carlson, who collected his team-leading 40th assist on Friday, will be honored prior to Sunday's encounter for reaching the 1,000-game milestone. He appeared in his 1,000th NHL game on March 30 vs. the Boston Bruins.

Dylan Strome set up both of Ovechkin's goals on Friday before seeing his team's offense run dry.

"No time to dwell," Strome said of his team's troubles, per The Washington Post. "Six games left. I think if we go 6-0, we put ourselves in a pretty good spot."

Rugged forward Tom Wilson was quick to credit his team's compete-level, even if the recent results haven't been desirable.

"We battled hard. Guys were giving it all," winger Tom Wilson said. "... It's tough, but you see the care in this room. You see the pride. Obviously, they came hard and they shot a lot of pucks at the net. Guys were sacrificing. Guys were trying their best."

The Senators (33-39-4, 70 points) carry a three-game skid into the second half of a back-to-back set. Ottawa officially was eliminated from postseason contention after dropping a 4-3 decision to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

Claude Giroux and defenseman Jake Sanderson each collected a goal and an assist. Captain Brady Tkachuk also tallied and registered a franchise-record 16 hits in the game for the Senators.

"He's the best forward in the NHL," Sanderson said, per the Ottawa Sun. "When he goes out and does that and puts the team on his back to claw back, that's impressive. We try to follow him every night."

While not pleased with the result, Tkachuk expressed his appreciation for his team's effort during its two-goal third period.

"That's how we need to play. That third period was probably our best period all year," Tkachuk said, per the Sun. "We just did the little things right, guys stepped up, and we hit the post and we had chances."

The Senators saw the return of defenseman Thomas Chabot, who had missed the previous four games due to a lower-body injury.