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Habs battle Capitals in D.C.

Feb 1, 2011 - 4:19 PM (Sports Network) - Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price got a chance to be a teammate of the Capitals' Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green at the recent All- Star Game, but now his focus will shift to preventing the duo from igniting Washington's struggling offense.

The second-place clubs clash tonight for the second time this season in the nation's capital at the Verizon Center.

Price, Green and Ovechkin were all members of Team Staal for the weekend's All-Star festivities. Green served as an assistant captain for his team and was involved in the drafting of Ovechkin and Price to the squad.

"I didn't want to have to play against him, so I was lucky I had him on my team," said Green of playing with Ovechkin.

Ovechkin got his weekend off to a nice start by winning his third straight Breakaway Challenge at Saturday's SuperSkills competition and then scored the All-Star Game's first goal. He also finished with an assist, Green added two helpers and Price stopped 13-of-16 shots faced in Team Staal's 11-10 loss to Team Lidstrom.

Ovechkin also made history when he threw his stick at Team Lidstrom member Matt Duchene during a breakaway, leading to the first ever penalty shot in All-Star Game history.

Regardless, the Capitals hope that Ovechkin's solid performance will spark Washington's offense. The Capitals have lost two straight and six of their last nine (3-3-3) to fall four points back of the Lightning for first place in the Southeast Division, and have been held to a pair of goals or less six times in that span. They were shut out by the Thrashers, 1-0, in their final game before the break.

Ovechkin recorded his third straight 50-goal season last year, but has just 19 in 51 games so far in 2010-11. That includes four goals in his last nine games, but three of those came in one contest.

The Russian sniper did score in Washington's 3-0 victory at home over Montreal back on Dec. 28 in the first meeting between the club's since the Canadiens eliminated the Caps in seven games in last season's conference quarterfinals.

Green also scored and Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves to improve to 3-0-0 with a 1.31 goals-against average in his career versus the Habs.

Washington has won seven of its last 10 regular-season meetings with Montreal, including five of the last six at home.

Price made 27 saves in the loss and is just 2-2-3 with a 3.33 GAA in his career versus the Capitals in the regular season. However, he is second in the NHL with 24 wins this season to go along with a 2.36 GAA.

Montreal is 3-2-1 in its last six games and is currently four points back of Boston for first place in the Northeast Division. It is also 3-1-1 in its last five on the road despite dropping a 5-2 setback in Philadelphia on Jan. 25 in its final came before All-Star weekend.

With Mike Cammalleri still sidelined with a separated left shoulder, the Habs will continue to lean on Tomas Plekanec offensively. He is tied with Brian Gionta for the team lead with 16 goals and is tops on the club with 40 points. Plekanec has four goals and four assists in his last eight games overall and seven goals in his last seven contests versus Washington.

Gionta, though, has scored just one goal in his last eight games and has just one in his last 12 versus the Caps.

Washington has points in seven of its last eight at home (4-1-3) and there is a chance that it could get Alexander Semin back into the lineup tonight. Semin, who signed a one-year contract extension on Thursday, has missed the last nine games with a groin ailment and hasn't scored since Nov. 28. The Russian forward has 18 goals on the season, but none in his last 14 games.