(Sports Network) - The surging Washington Capitals will aim for a fifth straight victory when they visit the New York Rangers for tonight's battle at Madison Square Garden.
The Capitals have won four in a row and are coming off Sunday's dramatic victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers. Washington posted the 3-2 decision just 29 seconds into overtime thanks to a power-play goal by Mike Green.
Washington is on its second four-game winning streak of the season and can claim five straight victories for the first time since April 1-9 of last season.
"I think no matter what the outcome was, it was important that we stuck together here," Green said. "I think in the past couple of games we've let some games be closer than they should. Fortunate to get the outcome that we wanted, but more important that we played a full 60 minutes."
Alexander Semin and Eric Fehr tallied the other goals on Sunday for the Capitals, while goaltender Braden Holtby made 23 saves to record a win in his first NHL start. Holtby earned his first career win on Friday against Boston after replacing Michal Neuvirth with only 10 minutes left in regulation.
Holtby has been serving as Neuvirth's backup while Semyon Varlamov is sidelined with a groin injury. Neuvirth, who is 8-3-0 on the year, is expected to resume his starting role tonight.
Washington forward Brooks Laich is questionable for tonight after suffering an upper-body injury in Sunday's win over the Flyers. He missed practice on Monday, but will be with the team tonight in Manhattan.
Alex Ovechkin enters tonight riding a six-game point streak and has four goals and six assists during that stretch. The Caps star winger has done well in his career against the Rangers, posting 22 points (13 goals, 9 assists) in 20 games.
Washington has been much better at home (7-1-0) than on the road (3-3-0) this season, but the Caps have won two of their last three away from D.C.
The Rangers, meanwhile, will try to get their offense going tonight after losing a 2-0 decision to visiting St. Louis on Sunday. Ty Conklin stopped 27 shots for his first shutout of the season and New York fell to 2-4-1 at MSG.
Alex Steen beat Martin Biron for one goal and also scored an empty-netter. Biron stopped 20-of-21 shots for the Rangers to fall to 1-2-0 on the year.
"We had a couple of chances, but not enough and they were really aggressive all night," said New York forwardRyan Callahan. "We wanted to get more pucks on the net, but we didn't do that tonight. They won all the battles."
Rangers No. 1 goaltender Henrik Lundqvist had started six straight games before Biron gave him a breather on Sunday. The Swedish star is expected to be back between the pipes tonight. Lundqvist is 9-5-2 with a 3.01 goals-against average in 16 career starts against the Caps.
The Capitals won three of four against the Rangers last season and have taken eight of 10 overall in the series. Washington has dropped eight of its last 11 games in NYC, but the Caps won both meetings at the Garden last season.