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Capitals resume rivalry with visiting Penguins

Jan 11, 2012 - 4:19 PM (Sports Network) - A pair of bitter Eastern Conference rivals will clash tonight in D.C., as the Washington Capitals host the sliding Pittsburgh Penguins at the Verizon Center.

This marks the third of four meetings between the clubs this year after each team won a road test in the earlier encounters. Washington has taken eight of 10 overall in this series, while the Pens have claimed two of the last three encounters in D.C.

Despite riding a current five-game losing streak, Pittsburgh also enters tonight holding onto the eighth and final playoff seed in the East with 46 points, but Washington is just two points behind in 10th.

Washington will be happy to be back in the nation's capital tonight after getting dealt a pair of 5-2 losses recently on the West Coast. The Caps lost Saturday evening in San Jose before dropping Monday's contest in Los Angeles.

The Capitals, who are kicking off a four-game homestand today, are 14-5-1 as the host this year compared to a poor 7-12-1 road mark.

The Kings came into Monday's game struggling mightily to put the puck into the net, but LA had an offensive explosion against the Caps, scoring five straight goals after Washington had taken a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.

Marcus Johansson recorded both goals for the Capitals, as he notched the first tally just 1:34 into the first period and scored the game's final goal at 13:42 of the third.

Tomas Vokoun stopped 23-of-27 shots before being pulled after the second period. Michal Neuvirth came on and made seven saves in the third period.

"We had a strong start, we scored the first goal," Capitals left winger Alex Ovechkin said. "After that we stopped playing."

Ovechkin has gone without a point in the last two games after recording two- point efforts in each of his previous four outings.

The Caps have played the last two games without top centerman Nicklas Backstrom, who is dealing with a head injury. He was sent back to Washington prior to Monday's game and is considered day-to-day. Backstrom is leading Washington with 42 points this season.

Meanwhile, Washington defenseman Mike Green has been dogged by groin issues for much of the season and he was pulled from Saturday's game after the muscle tightened up. Green, who has three goals and three assists in just 10 games this year, is not expected to play tonight.

The Penguins have also dealt with their share of injury concerns, as superstar captain Sidney Crosby is still sidelined due to concussion-like symptoms and fellow centerman Jordan Staal will miss approximately 4-to-6 weeks with a knee injury.

Pittsburgh also figured to be without forward James Neal for a significant period of time with a broken foot, but he after the first diagnosis had him missing "weeks" of action, Neal was able to skate for the Pens in Tuesday's home game against Ottawa.

However, having Neal in the lineup didn't help Pittsburgh's cause, as the Senators pounded the Pens by a 5-1 score. It was Pittsburgh's fifth straight regulation loss, marking the first time the club has lost five in a row since an 0-5 slide from Dec. 27, 2009-Jan. 3, 2010.

Milan Michalek scored two goals and Craig Anderson made 29 saves to lead the Sens to the easy win over Pittsburgh.

Evgeni Malkin scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh, while Brent Johnson gave up three Ottawa goals on eight shots before he was replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury, who finished with 13 saves in relief.

"A couple breakdowns and a couple miscues gave them easy goals," said Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma.

This evening's test marks the first stop on a three-game road trip for the Pens, who are 10-9-2 as the visiting club this season.