Capitals-Hurricanes Preview

Regular Season Matchup
	W-L-OT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF
WAS	28-40-14	17-17-7	11-23-7	11-15-6	24-37-11
CAR	40-34-8	21-16-4	19-18-4	19-11-2	36-29-7
· Complete Standings

Team Stat Comparison
234	Goals	241
275	Goals Against	248
67	Power Play Goals	67
82	Power Play Goals Allowed	61
12	Shorthanded Goals	12
14	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	8
1233	Penalty Minutes	1021
15	Average Penalty Minutes	12

Goalie Breakdown
	GOALIE	GP	W	TGA	GAA	SO	SV	SV%
	Olaf Kolzig	54	22	159	3.00	1	1612	.910
	Brent Johnson	30	6	99	3.61	0	795	.889
	Frederic Cassivi	4	0	6	2.60	0	52	.897
	Cam Ward	60	30	167	2.93	2	1458	.897
	John Grahame	28	10	72	2.85	0	630	.897

Team Stat Leaders
G	Alex Ovechkin 46	Justin Williams 33
A	Alex Ovechkin 46	Rod Brind'Amour 56
PTS	Alex Ovechkin 92	Ray Whitney 83
PIM	Donald Brashear 156	Mike Commodore 113
SOG	Alex Ovechkin 392	Eric Staal 288

The Carolina Hurricanes are becoming proficient at overcoming deficits, but they haven't needed to do that to beat the Washington Capitals.

After another come-from-behind win, the Hurricanes look to continue their recent dominance of the Capitals when the Southeast Division rivals resume their season series Thursday.

Carolina (25-18-5), which is 4-0-1 since a three-game losing streak, has managed to rally for wins against Florida twice in its last three games.

Five days after overcoming a three-goal deficit in the third period of a 6-4 victory, the Hurricanes beat the Panthers 3-2 in overtime Tuesday night after tying the score with 6:26 left in regulation.

Despite the recent rallies, the Hurricanes are just 2-15-2 when trailing after two periods, compared with a perfect 17-0-0 when they hold the lead entering the final 20 minutes.

"Good hockey teams find ways to win and they get that character that they're never too far out of it," Hurricanes forward Erik Cole said. "We're close. We definitely had that last year, but I definitely feel things are coming together."

Justin Williams gave Carolina the victory Tuesday with his team-high seventh game-winning goal, a power-play marker at 1:47 of overtime. The All-Star forward also leads the team with 23 goals overall this season.

Scott Walker and Cole also scored for Carolina. Walker has three goals in his last four games.

Carolina has hardly had to resort to thrilling comebacks against Washington (19-20-7) in their last two meetings, outscoring the Capitals 9-1 after losing the season's first matchup between the teams, 5-2 on Oct. 7. Cole had four goals and three assists in the two Carolina victories, including a power-play goal and three assists in the most recent meeting, a 4-1 win on Nov. 17 at Washington.

Dating to last season, the Hurricanes have taken five of their last six games against the Capitals. A win Thursday would give Carolina three straight home wins over Washington for the first time.

The Capitals have lost six straight on the road since a 3-2 win at Toronto on Dec. 23. It's their longest road losing streak since dropping seven in a row from Feb. 28-March 27, 2004.

Overall, Washington has lost three straight games -- allowing 17 goals during the losing skid -- and 10 of its last 14.

The Capitals lost 5-2 at Ottawa on Tuesday night after tying a season high for goals allowed in a 7-3 defeat to Florida on Saturday.

Alexander Ovechkin extended his points streak to 12 games Tuesday, when he assisted on Steve Eminger's first goal of the season. Ovechkin has five goals and 13 assists during his current 12-game run.

He scored two goals in Washington's Oct. 7 victory over the Hurricanes, but failed to register a point in this season's two losses against Carolina.

Washington may be without defenseman Mike Green, who went to the dressing room Tuesday after he was struck by Christoph Schubert's shot in the first period. He returned later in the period, then left after his second shift in the second and didn't return.