Wednesday Night Hockey: 5 Storylines

The Washington Capitals will try to bounce back from consecutive losses when they host the New York Rangers at Capital One Arena in the first game of a "Wednesday Night Hockey" doubleheader (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS). The Rangers (2-4-0) have yet to win in regulation; they have one overtime victory (3-2 against the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 11) and one in a shootout (3-2 against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday).

In the second game, the Boston Bruins will try to continue their hot start when they open a four-game road trip against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome (9:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN360). The Bruins (4-1-0) have won four in a row after a 7-0 loss at Washington on opening night. The Flames are 3-2-0 and return home after winning twice on a three-game road trip.
Here are five storylines for this week's doubleheader:

Capitals look for consistency

The Capitals (2-2-1) have outscored their opponents 12-2 in the two wins but have been outscored 17-8 in losses to the Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs. A 4-2 home loss to Toronto on Saturday was a capsule version of their season; they were excellent for long stretches but paid dearly for lapses at key times. New coach Todd Reirden has to get his team to execute consistently and avoid the flat spots that were so costly against the Maple Leafs.

Ovechkin keeps on scoring

The calendar says Alex Ovechkin is 33, but age doesn't appear to be affecting his scoring touch. Ovechkin has four goals in Washington's first five games and has passed Dino Ciccarelli and Bobby Hull to move into 17th place on the NHL's all-time goal-scoring list with 611. Scoring 50 goals this season would put Ovechkin in select company; only Hull in 1971-72 (age 33), Jaromir Jagr in 2005-06 (age 33) and Johnny Bucyk in 1970-71 (age 35) have scored at least 50 goals after their age-32 season. Ovechkin has three 50-goal seasons since 2013-14; no one else in the NHL has scored more than 46 goals.

Rangers seeking offense

Goals have been difficult to come by for New York. In their first six games, the Rangers have scored 14 times but five in one game, an 8-5 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 7. Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is in top form, with a 1.99 goals-against average and .939 save percentage, but the two biggest returning goal scorers, Mika Zibanejad and Kevin Hayes, each have scored once. Special teams haven't helped; the Rangers are 2-for-18 (11.1 percent) on the power play and have allowed five goals on 19 opposition power plays, a 73.7 percent success rate.

Bergeron's line powering Bruins

Patrice Bergeron was the NHL's First Star last week after scoring nine points (four goals, five assists) in Boston's three games (all victories). But his linemates weren't exactly slouches: Right wing David Pastrnak had eight points (six goals, two assists), and left wing Brad Marchand six points (one goal, five assists). Bergeron's performance is especially impressive considering he had offseason groin surgery and didn't play in any preseason games because of back spasms. "It's crazy to think about how he's playing right now based on the summer he's had and the training camp he had," Marchand told the Bruins website. "He didn't play a whole lot, didn't practice a whole lot, so for him to come out the way he did, how hot he is, it's pretty awesome to see."

Flames have Boston connection

Calgary is more than 2,000 miles from Boston, but the Flames have a couple of players with deep connections there. Forward Johnny Gaudreau excelled in three seasons at Boston College and won the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in NCAA Division I in 2014. Defenseman Noah Hanifin was born in Boston and played one season at BC before turning pro after being selected by the Carolina Hurricanes with the No. 5 pick of the 2015 NHL Draft. "I'd go to Bruins games when I was little, which is kind of how I got hooked into hockey, watching them, cheering them on," he told the Flames website. "So it's always fun to play against Boston."