Washington Capitals (15-5-6) at Carolina Hurricanes (5-16-5), 7 p.m.

The first-place Washington Capitals will visit the lowly Carolina Hurricanes tonight when the Southeast Division rivals meet for a battle at RBC Center.

The Capitals have won two straight and currently lead the Southeast with 36 points and are tied with Pittsburgh for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

Washington has notched consecutive victories on the heels of a three-game slide and posted its most recent win in a tight game Saturday at Montreal. Nicklas Backstrom scored the lone goal in the shootout to give Washington a 4-3 victory over the Canadiens at Bell Centre.

After each of the first five attempts were thwarted by the goaltenders, Backstrom calmly reached back and snapped off a quick shot over Carey Price's blocker to end the game.

Eric Fehr tallied twice, including the game-tying goal with 11.4 seconds left in regulation to force the extra session.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 18th goal of the season and added an assist, while Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves for the win.

Varlamov is 10-1-2 on the season and even though the 21-year-old Russian saw action in 13 playoff games last year, he still has rookie status and is playing himself into the Calder Trophy conversation. Varlamov, who has never faced Carolina, could get his fifth straight start tonight.

Caps defenseman Shaone Morrisonn (concussion) and Tom Poti (upper body) are questionable for tonight's test, while winger Alexander Semin is expected to miss his seventh straight game with an injured right wrist. However, Semin could return in Thursday's home game against Florida.

Washington is 7-3-3 as the visiting club this year and ended a two-game road slide with the win over Montreal.

The Hurricanes, meanwhile, have dropped four straight and are still dead last in the NHL with just 15 points on the season. Carolina has given up five or more goals in each of its last two losses and should have its hands full with the explosive Capitals tonight.

After dropping a 6-4 home decision on Friday against Atlanta, the Hurricanes were pounded by a 5-1 score the following night in Buffalo. Carolina led both of those games after two periods, but yielded five goals in the final 20 minutes in each contest.

Matt Cullen scored the only goal for the Hurricanes. Michael Leighton allowed all five goals on 24 shots for Carolina, which remains the only team in the league without a road win (0-10-3).

"We aren't doing a good job closing out games," Cullen said. "You get yourself a one-goal lead playing some pretty good hockey through two (periods). I don't know what it is; none of us know what it is, but we give up that goal and it's been a pretty regular occurrence that the next one goes in pretty quickly."

Hurricanes defenseman Joni Pitkanen missed the loss to Buffalo with an upper- body injury and is questionable for tonight.

While Carolina is winless on the road, the club is 5-6-2 as the host this year and is beginning a two-game homestand tonight. The 'Canes will also welcome Vancouver on Saturday.

Tonight marks the first of six scheduled meetings between Washington and the Hurricanes this season. The clubs each won three games during the 2008-09 series and have split the last 14 meetings overall. The Caps have dropped seven of nine in Raleigh.

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