Fri Mar 21 11:13:39 2008

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Caps hope to rebound in Atlanta

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(Sports Network) - Washington's current road trip features several favorable matchups. However, the Capitals' offense failed itself last time out and the club will try to rebound tonight in a test with the Atlanta Thrashers at Philips Arena in a matchup that features the top two goal scorers in the NHL.

Washington had won four straight to stay in contention in both the Eastern Conference playoff race and Southeast Division title. However, the Capitals were blanked by Chicago, 5-0, on Wednesday and fell five points back of first- place Carolina in the division. The Hurricanes extended that lead to seven points with Thursday's victory over Florida.

The Capitals are also two points back of Philadelphia for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East with seven games to play.

Olaf Kolzig was bombarded with 42 shots on the night, making 37 saves. Washington has now split the first two games of its current six-game road trip that next features a big stop in Carolina on Tuesday. The Capitals are 16-16-5 as the road team this year.

Despite Atlanta having the second-lowest point total in the East, the Capitals have dropped four of their seven matchups with the Thrashers this year (3-2-2).

Alex Ovechkin, who leads the NHL with a career-high 58 goals and 102 points, has four goals and four assists in seven games versus Atlanta this year. He is two goals shy of becoming the first skater to net 60 goals in a season since Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux (69 goals) and Jaromir Jagr (62) both did so in the 1995-96 season.

The Russian sniper would also become the second Capitals player in club history to hit the 60-goal mark, joining Dennis Maruk, who posted a franchise record 60 goals in 1981-82.

Countryman Ilya Kovalchuk is second in the league with 50 goals and is just two tallies shy of the career-high 52 he netted in 2005-06. He failed to light the lamp in the Thrashers' last game, and Atlanta didn't help Washington's playoff hopes after getting defeated 5-3 by Carolina on Wednesday.

Johan Hedberg stopped 28-of-33 shots for Atlanta, which lost its fourth straight game and was defeated for the 14th time in 16 games. Steve McCarthy, Bryan Little and Vyacheslav Kozlov all tallied for the Thrashers. Atlanta and its 70 points are 14th in the East.

The Thrashers play the second portion of back-to-back home games tonight and are 18-17-3 as the host this year. Atlanta plays its next three on the road.

Kovalchuk has three goals and five assists in six games versus the Capitals this year, while Todd White has four goals.

Overall, Atlanta has won nine of its last 15 against Washington and two straight as the host.