Toronto Maple Leafs (25-32-5) at Washington Capitals (33-20-10), 7 p.m. (ET)
(SportsNetwork.com) - The Washington Capitals aim to avoid posting a fourth loss in a row on Sunday night when they host a Toronto Maple Leafs club that hasn't won on the road in 2015.
Washington has followed up a four-game winning streak with consecutive losses to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Carolina, getting shut out by the Hurricanes 3-0 on Friday. As a result, the Capitals sit three points back of the Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Caps do hold a comfortable edge for a wild card spot and will try to avoid losing four in a row tonight for the first time since Jan. 16-27.
Washington was blanked for the first time since Jan. 31 with Friday's loss to Carolina, which got 28 saves from Anton Khudobin. Braden Holtby made 35 saves for the Capitals.
"We haven't had good starts," Washington head coach Barry Trotz said. "Carolina does a good job when they get the lead."
Trotz is expected to have physical defenseman Tim Gleason in the lineup tonight after the 32-year-old veteran was acquired from the Hurricanes on Saturday for blueliner Jack Hillen and a 2015 fourth-round draft pick.
Gleason had a goal and six assists in 55 games for the Hurricanes this season.
Holtby, meanwhile, figures to get the start and is 3-1-1 lifetime versus the Maple Leafs with a 1.81 goals against average and .942 save percentage in five games (4 starts).
Toronto lost the opener of a four-game road trip on Saturday, falling 4-0 to the Montreal Canadiens to suffer its 15th consecutive defeat as the visiting club. The Maple Leafs have not won on the road since Dec. 31.
Coming off consecutive home wins, the Leafs had that run end as Jonathan Bernier allowed three goals on 22 shots. Toronto outshot Montreal 30-23, but couldn't get one past Habs goaltender Carey Price.
"(The Canadiens) only had 11 shots after two periods," Leafs coach Peter Horachek said. "We turned over that first goal, they had an empty-net goal and that third goal clearly was goalie interference. We did it to ourselves on the turnover, but I thought there was some good compete there. We had some opportunities."
James Reimer is likely to get the opportunity tonight to snap Toronto's road slide and he is 2-3-1 with a 2.62 GAA and .922 save percentage in six meetings with the Capitals.
The Leafs have lost three in a row and eight of their past 10 trips to Washington, with the Capitals having won three of four and seven of the previous 11 encounters overall.