With both Ottawa and Washington featuring elite defenses, goals will be hard to come by in tonight's Eastern Conference showdown.

One thing to watch: It’s been an awakening for The Great 8, 39-year-old Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin, who has 22 goals in 34 games (he scored 31 all of last season). With 875 career goals, he’s now just 19 behind the NHL all-time record set by Wayne Gretzky.

The Ottawa Senators are back on the ice tomorrow night when they take on the Washington Capitals at 7:00 p.m. ET.

The resurgent Ottawa Senators go for a third straight win when they host the Washington Capitals on Thursday night. The Senators completed a successful weekend back-to-back set with a 3-1 win against the Utah Hockey Club on Sunday.

The Ottawa Senators continue their home stand as they host the Washington Capitals. It is time to continue our NHL odds series with a Capitals-Senators prediction and pick. The Capitals come into the game at 34-11-5 on the year,

Alex Ovechkin scored with 1:53 left in overtime to give the Washington Capitals a 1-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

OTTAWA -- Alex Ovechkin scored his 874th NHL goal at 3:07 of overtime, giving the Washington Capitals a 1-0 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

Among the best players to watch when the Washington Capitals face the Ottawa Senators on Thursday at Canadian Tire Centre — starting at 7:00 PM ET — are the Capitals’ Dylan Strome and the Senators’ Tim Stutzle.

BOTTOM LINE: The Ottawa Senators host the Washington Capitals aiming to extend a three-game home winning streak. Ottawa is 26-20-4 overall and 14-7-2 in home games. The Senators are 12-4-3 in games decided by one goal. Washington is 18-7-1 on the road and 34-11-5 overall. The Capitals have a 31-1-3 record when scoring at least three goals.

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It was supposed to be a relatively quiet start to the week for the Ottawa Senators, and they had certainly earned it. The Senators are in third place in the Atlantic Division and finally had a day off after playing 10 games in 16 days.

The Ottawa Senators will be without center Nick Cousins for the next six-to-eight weeks due to a knee injury, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Garrioch adds that Cousins will also seek a second medical opinion on the injury and its anticipated recovery timeline.