Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals are heating up as they travel north to visit the struggling Montreal Canadiens on Thursday in a rematch of last season's first-round series.

Washington, then the top seed in the Metropolitan Division, eliminated the wild-card Canadiens in five games last spring.

Montreal, which opened this season with nine wins in 12 games, has dropped four straight games (0-3-1) and six of its last seven overall (1-3-3).

The Capitals had lost eight of 10 games before winning their second consecutive contest with a 7-4 victory over the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.

Rookie Ryan Leonard scored twice for his first multi-goal game in the NHL, Tom Wilson tallied twice into an empty net and Ovechkin scored in his third straight game for the Capitals.

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