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Surging Canadiens visit Capitals

Jan 31, 2008 - 2:19 PM Montreal (27-15-8) at Washington (23-23-5) 7:00 pm EST

WASHINGTON (Ticker) - The Montreal Canadiens go for their fourth straight win when they visit the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

Montreal, which is 7-2-0 in its last nine games, also will hope to complete a home-and-home sweep after blanking Washington, 4-0, on Tuesday.

Canadiens goaltender Cristobal Huet made 35 saves for his second shutout of the season, and the 32-year-old has allowed just nine goals in his last six games.

Alexei Kovalev scored in Tuesday's victory and leads Montreal with 22 goals and 46 points.

To repeat Tuesday's success, the Canadiens may need to keep Alex Ovechkin off the scoresheet.

The league's leading scorer, Ovechkin, did not register a point for the first time in eight games on Tuesday, and has gone without a goal in two straight games - which matches a season-high.

The 22-year-old Russian, who signed a 13-year, $124 million extension on January 10, has nearly triple the amount of goals as the second-leading scorer on Washington. Ovechkin has 39 tallies, while Mike Green has 14.