(My Sportsbook) - The Washington Capitals will try to close out their November schedule on a positive note when they visit the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets for tonight's encounter at Nationwide Arena.

The Capitals have won two straight on the heels of a three-game losing streak and are now 8-4-2 during an up-and-down month. After this evening's test, Washington will next host Florida on Tuesday, December 2.

Washington, which leads the Southeast Division with 29 points, is coming off Friday's impressive home victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Tomas Fleischmann scored the deciding goal in the opening period and Jose Theodore earned his 27th career shutout as the Caps defeated the Canadiens, 3-0, at the Verizon Center.

Theodore, who played for the Canadiens from 1995-2006, stopped all 28 shots, while Alexander Ovechkin and David Steckel also tallied for Washington.

Ovechkin, who recorded his sixth career hat trick and added an assist in leading Washington to a 5-3 decision over the visiting Atlanta Thrashers on Wednesday night, extended his point streak to 10 games. He has 11 goals and 11 assists over that span.

The Russian superstar has 30 points on the year, tying him with a host of players for second in the NHL. Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, a countryman of Ovechkin, leads the league with 37 points.

The Caps are just 4-7-2 as the visiting team this season and have lost three straight on the road.

Columbus has lost two in a row and four of its last five games. The Blue Jackets played Friday in Detroit and were handed a 5-3 setback by the Red Wings. Marian Hossa's second goal of the game came with two minutes left to lead the Red Wings to the victory at Joe Louis Arena.

With time winding down in the third period, Detroit took a 4-3 lead. A left circle faceoff draw was won by Pavel Datsyuk. The puck went to the right side where Hossa poked it forward, then kicked the puck from his skate to his stick and swept a shot from the low left side past Pascal Leclaire with two minutes left.

From there the Red Wings held off the Blue Jackets and Kris Draper's empty- netter sealed the victory.

Fedor Tyutin scored twice while Jakub Voracek added the other marker for the Blue Jackets. Leclaire made 30 saves in the defeat.

Tonight marks the first of two straight on home ice for the Blue Jackets, who are just 5-5-1 as the host this season.

The Capitals have lost just once in eight all-time meetings with Columbus and that setback came in Ohio on October 27, 2000 -- the first-ever matchup between the clubs. Since then Washington is 6-0 with a tie in the series and has won four straight at Nationwide Arena.