With seven of their next eight games at home, the Ottawa Senators welcome a club who can't seem to find their footing on the road.

The Washington Capitals will try to avoid their longest slide away from home in eight years Thursday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.

Viewers in the Senators region can watch the game on TSN5 at 7:30pm et/8:30pm at. You can listen to all the action on TSN Radio 1200 starting at 5:30pm et/6:30pm at.

The Sens have alternated wins and losses over the past 12 games (6-5-1). They haven't won back-to-back games as host since Nov. 4-6, and they were impressive in Saturday's 7-2 win over Arizona.

Ottawa, though, followed that up with a listless 2-1 defeat at New Jersey on Tuesday.

"I wasn't too impressed with our effort," said goaltender Robin Lehner, who had 17 saves. "Both teams felt a little slow to come out. It wasn't the most entertaining hockey game I've played. They made less mistakes."

Lehner will make his first career appearance against the Capitals and fourth straight start overall as Craig Anderson continues to deal with a hand injury.

Veteran defenceman Chris Phillips will play his 1,179th game with the Senators, passing Daniel Alfredsson as the franchise's all-time leader.

"It's been on my mind for a little bit now and I'm excited about it," said Phillips, the first overall pick in the 1996 draft, after practice Wednesday. "Every time you face an opponent, a story gets told and it reminds you of something that happened in the past."

Washington (26-15-10) has been streaky at times this season, putting together a pair of 7-0-2 stretches while also dealing with losing streaks of five and four games.

Head coach Barry Trotz felt a shake up was needed to snap the Capitals out of their 1-4-2 funk. The first-year coach tinkered with his lines, and Washington responded with Tuesday's 4-0 home win over Los Angeles.

"I think that's when you see us at our best," center Eric Fehr told the team's official website, "when we're not sitting back and letting them come to us; (when) we stay aggressive and stay on the forecheck. I think we've learned from some mistakes early on in the year that we need to continue to force teams to make mistakes and not let them come at us."

Now, they'll try to do that on the road, where they've lost five straight (0-3-2). The Capitals haven't endured a longer slide there since dropping nine in a row from March 6-31, 2007.

Another strong performance from Troy Brouwer could halt the current skid. The veteran right wing scored twice Tuesday, matching his total from the previous 13 games. He has 15 goals on the season, but none in the past six meetings with the Senators (20-20-9).

Alex Ovechkin only has one goal in the last nine visits to Ottawa, and the Capitals have lost four in a row there and nine of 11.

They ended a seven-game overall losing streak to the Senators on Dec. 22, winning 2-1 at home as Braden Holtby made 38 saves while Ovechkin came up empty on seven shots.

The All-Star left wing, second in the NHL with 31 goals, enters this visit with nine goals and three assists in eight games after setting up Nicklas Backstrom's tally against the Kings.

The center had a goal versus the Senators in December after failing to score in the six previous matchups. He has just three points in 10 games at Ottawa, one fewer than his total from his first two career visits.

Holtby should be back in net after making 27 saves Tuesday for his second shutout in three starts. He owns a 0.33 goals-against average and 2-0-1 record over that stretch.