Pre-Game Update

The Washington Capitals will go for their 15th straight victory in a little under two hours at Bell Centre against the Montreal Canadiens.

According to Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post via his blog, Michael Neuvirth will start tonight for the Capitals against the Canadiens Carey Price.

Another note of importance is the absence of Jason Chimera at this morning's practice. The speculation is that Chimera may have a groin-muscle strain, so look for Matt Bradley to move from the fourth line to the third line, and Quitin Laing to step in for Bradley on the fourth line with Boyd Gordon and David Steckel.

With a win tonight, the Capitals will tie the 1981-82 New York Islanders for the second longest regular season winning streak is NHL history.

Here are five more notes to keep in mind while you watch tonight's game:

About the streak – Washington’s winning streak has seen the Caps outscore opponents 67-33 (not including the goal awarded for winning a shootout in the first game of the streak). Also in the streak the Caps:
- have set a club record for longest home winning streak (11 games)
- have gained 19 standings points in the Eastern Conference (from trailing by five to leading by 14)
- have been held to three goals just twice and allowed as many as three goals just five times
- have had power-play goals in all but two games in the streak
- have gotten goals from 18 players –including every skater who has played at least 10 GP
- have outscored opponents 30-6 in the third period
- have a 14.9% shooting percentage (.851 save percentage for opposing goalies)
- had goaltenders post a 2.33 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage
Road warriors – The Capitals have won five straight road games, one shy of the franchise record set in 1983-84. Washington’s 18-9-3 road record is the best in the Eastern Conference and their 113 goals on the road lead the league.
Lead the way – Alex Ovechkin leads the NHL in goals (42), points (86), plus/minus (+41), shots (266), goals per game (0.82) and points per game (1.69), despite missing eight games.
Multiples, tabled – The Capitals were the 24th team in the NHL to record a hat trick this season when Alex Ovechkin scored three goals Sunday against Pittsburgh. It took that long despite the fact that it was Washington’s 40th multiple-goal game, far and away the most in the league – the other 29 teams average 15.3 multiple-goal games. In fact, Capitals players have scored two goals in a period 19 times; 25 teams have had 19 or fewer multiple-goal games. Despite their success with multiple-goal games the Capitals are one of six teams without a hat trick this season.
K Street – Mike Knuble has 11 goals in the last 13 games and 14 goals in the last 17 games. He is enjoying his seventh consecutive 20-goal season joining Ilya Kovalchuk and Jarome Iginla as the only players with 20-plus goals in each of those seasons (others could join them). With 21 goals – despite missing 12 games with a broken finger – Knuble, at 37, leads all players 33 and older in goals