Canadiens’ netminder Peter Budaj hopes to backstop the Habs to their fifth straight win and notch his second-straight Friday victory in Washington as the Habs face the Caps at 5 p.m.
The Habs (14-9-2) scored three early goals against the Capitals and held on for a 3-2 win last Friday at the Verizon Center, as NHL goal scoring leader Alex Ovechkin managed to net a pair in his team’s loss.
The win allowed the Canadiens to leapfrog the Capitals in the standings, a team which has since faded to eighth in the Eastern Conference.
The Capitals (12-11-2) have gone 0-3-1 in their recent games, forcing starting goaltender Braden Holtby – who has a .922 save percentage - to face a lot of rubber.
Budaj, meanwhile, has quietly gone 4-1 with a gaudy .942 save percentage in his five starts.
The Capitals have struggled on defence, as Mike Green is a -7 and has yet to score this season, although John Carlson has been a more pleasant surprise with 12 points in 25 games.
The Caps and Habs have had wildly different results on defence. The Capitals have ceded 74 goals, 11th best in the conference, while the Habs are tied with Boston for best goals against average in the conference, having ceded only 52 goals in 25 games.
The Capitals, however, are tied with Tampa Bay for second in goals scored in the east, as both teams have scored 76 goals, just two fewer than the Penguins, who have played one more game.
Ovechkin has scored 20 of those goals and leads the NHL in games scored.
The Canadiens are ninth in conference scoring with 67 goals scored.
The Capitals' most recent tilt ended in a 6-4 loss to struggling Ottawa on Wednesday, a game in which they gave up 44 shots and led 3-1 after one period.
With a win, Montreal could leapfrog the Red Wings into fourth place in the conference. Detroit has 31 points, one more than the Habs, but Detroit has played one more game.
Montreal will have to keep an eye on the Capitals powerplay which has a stellar 24.5 percent, while the Canadiens have also shown flashes of brilliance as P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov have quarterbacked the powerplay to a 24.0 percent pace.
Both were instrumental in the Canadiens’ 3-1 road win over Buffalo Wednesday.
Subban leads the Canadiens with 3 goals and 18 assists for 21 points, while Markov is tied for second with Alex Galchenyuk with 17 points. Markov has 2 goals and 15 assists.
If Subban and Markov were to finish first and second in team scoring, it would be the first time in NHL history that a pair of defencemen have led their team in points.
Defencemen Phil Housley and Fredrik Olausson almost came in one-two in team scoring in 1991-92 for the Winnipeg Jets, finishing one and three, but Ed Olczyk had three points more than Olausson.
Gary Suter and Al MacIniss came in third and fourth in points for the 1985-86 Calgary Flames, as both were just four points shy of the team points lead.
Norm MacIver led the Ottawa Senators with 63 points in 1992-93, while defenceman Brad Shaw came in fourth, just seven points out of second place.
No Canadiens' defenceman has led the Habs in points since Sprague Cleghorn pulled off the feat in 1921-22.
The Habs return to Montreal after the game and face the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday and the New Jersey Devils Monday.
They then head on the road to face the Devils next Wednesday and then the Bruins on Thursday.
