Canadiens at Washington Capitals: Pat Hickey offers five things to know:

1. Back-to-backs all around Both teams were in the air heading to Washington at midnight Friday and are playing the second half of a back-to-back set. The Capitals do have an advantage because they are playing at home and they had what should have been a relatively easy game in Carolina, while the Canadiens were at home to the more physical San Jose Sharks. 2. Montoya gets the start Michel Therrien likes his goaltenders to share the workload in back-to-back situations and that means Al Montoya gets his ninth start of the season. Montoya’s numbers — a 3.09 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage — are skewed because of the 10-0 whipping the Canadiens received last month in Columbus, but he has given Montreal a chance in all of his other starts and has a 3-3-2 record. He was 2-0 against Washington last season. 3. The Russian hit man By most accounts, Alexei Emelin is having his best season in the NHL. The Russian veteran has been paired with Shea Weber on the No. 1 defence pair and he has delivered a number of punishing hits this season. Through 29 games, he had 107 hits, third in the NHL behind Ottawa’s Mark Borowiecki (130) and the Islanders’ Matt Martin (114). 4. Ovie slowing down? Washington winger Alex Ovechkin has won the Maurice Richard Trophy as the top goal-scorer in the NHL a record six times, including each of the past four seasons. But the Russian sniper has scored only 13 goals this season and isn’t among the NHL’s top 10. He recently went seven games without a goal and that’s the longest drought of his career. 5. Change in culture We should note that Ovechkin and his teammates have become more responsible defensively since coach Barry Trotz arrived on May 26, 2014. Ovechkin was a minus-35 in the season prior to Trotz’s arrival and he was plus-21 last season. The Capitals rank third in the NHL in team defence, allowing an average of only 2.11 goals a game.