By JEFF MEZYDLO
STATS Senior Writer

Florida (5-7-1) at Washington (8-3-4), 7:00 p.m. EDT

The Washington Capitals proved they can win without Alex
Ovechkin. The Florida Panthers are certainly aware of that.

With Ovechkin still out and injuries beginning to mount, the
Capitals look for a second straight victory over the visiting
Panthers when the teams conclude their home-and-home series
Saturday night.

Playing its second consecutive game without Ovechkin (upper-body
injury), Washington (9-3-4) snapped a three-game losing streak
with a 4-1 win at Florida on Friday.

Brendan Morrison scored twice, Brian Pothier had a goal with two
assists and Jose Theodore made 28 saves for the Capitals, who
are 1-1-2 since winning six in a row.

While Ovechkin - the two-time defending league MVP and current
NHL goal leader - is considered week to week and likely out for
this contest since being injured against Columbus on Sunday, the
Capitals could also be minus defensemen Mike Green (upper body)
and Jeff Schultz (lower body) after both were hurt at Florida.

"Really good teams usually have to play with a lot of injuries,
because their guys are willing to pay the price of winning,"
Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I just hope our price
wasn't too high."

Boudreau said the statuses of Green and Schultz would be updated
Saturday.

Washington's Nicklas Backstrom added an assist for his eighth
point in six games. He has a goal and 13 assists in 15 contests
against the Panthers (5-8-1), who had their three-game winning
streak snapped Friday.

"They're a desperate team," Panthers coach Pete DeBoer said of
the Capitals. "They'd lost three in a row. Got some key players
out, we've been on the other end of that. They were hungrier in
the tough areas than we were. There's no excuse for that."

Though Theodore improved to 4-2-4 with a 2.72 goals-against
average this season and 13-11-0 with three ties against Florida,
Semyon Varlamov could be in net for the Capitals in this
back-to-back scenario.

Varlamov, who has never faced Florida, is 5-1-0 with a 3.18 GAA
this season.

Coming off consecutive shutouts, Florida's Tomas Vokoun made 21
saves in the loss Friday.

Vokoun, who stopped 77 consecutive shots before Tyler Sloan
scored in the first period, is 3-8-1 with a 2.99 GAA on the
season and 7-10-0 versus the Capitals.

Backup Scott Clemmensen is 2-0-0 with a 4.26 GAA this season and
could get a start. He's 2-3-0 with a 3.17 GAA against
Washington.

Nathan Horton scored his fourth of the season Friday for
Florida, which outscored its opponents 13-5 during the
three-game winning streak.

"We have to be better," forward Michael Frolik told the
Panthers' official Web site. "We've got to battle for the pucks.
We (dumped) it in and they always have the pucks first and clean
it out."

Horton has two goals and six assists in his last five games, but
only two goals over a seven-game stretch against the Capitals.

Florida captain Bryan McCabe played in his 1,000th game Friday
to become the seventh player in franchise history and the 247th
in the NHL to achieve that feat.