The surging Washington Capitals will host rivals Pittsburgh tonight, and the Caps have a chance to pass the Pens in the Standings. Pittsburgh currently sits just one point ahead of Washington, and the Pens have just two wins in their last five games. I like the home team here at a reasonable price, given their stellar play of late.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Home Cookin' - The Caps have a solid home record of 17-7-5 at Verizon Center, and they've won three straight against the Pens. Pittsburgh's last visit to the nation's capital resulted in an embarrassing 4-0 loss.

2. Special Teams - The Pens are 0-for-11 on the power-play in the last three meetings in this series, and the Caps man advantage has been firing on all cylinders. Washington owns the league's second best power-play converting on 23.7% of their opportunities.

3. Alex Ovechkin - Alex The Great! He leads the league in scoring with 38 goals, and he comes in hot having tallied eight points in his last five games.

Selection: This is a play on the Washington Capitals (10*)