Game preview: Capitals vs. Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes will look to stay hot on Sunday afternoon when they host the Washington Capitals in Raleigh for puck drop at 5 p.m.

The Capitals revamped their roster in the offseason, making key additions such as Andrew Mangiapane and Pierre-Luc Dubois up front, Matt Roy and Jakob Chychrun in defense, and Logan Thompson in goal.

The results have been outstanding for Washington so far, as the Caps bring the Eastern Conference's best record (8-2-0) to Raleigh.

After a slow start to last season, Alexander Ovechkin scored 6 goals and 13 points in 10 games, further narrowing the gap between his goal total and Wayne Gretzky's NHL record. However, Ovi doesn't lead the Caps in points, that would be Dylan Strome, as the top 5 pick of 2015 is finally starting in the nation's capital. He has 16 points and a plus-11 rating so far.

Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas are also above a point-per-game pace, and John Carlson has eight points and a plus-12 mark as he also turns back the clock with some excellent plays.

The Hurricanes have of course also benefited from some outstanding performances from their best players at the start of the season. Martin Necas has been red hot with 12 points in his last 5 games played. Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho and Shayne Gostisbehere are all at or above a points per game rate as well.

With Frederik Andersen still out, Pyotr Kochetkov will score for Carolina today. The Hurricanes will of course try to see Spencer Martin at some point, possibly next week at one of the home games against Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.

Here's how to watch today's action:

• Time: 5:00 p.m. ET
• Location: Lenovo Center, Raleigh, NC
• TV: FanDuel Sports Network South with Mike Maniscalco, play-by-play; Tripp Tracy, color analyst; Hanna Yates, in-game reporter; Shane Willis, analyst.
• Radio: 99.9 The Fan
• Line: ML: CAR-230; PL: CAR -1.5 +114