Hurricanes at Capitals preview

HURRICANES (19-15-8) at CAPITALS (27-13-3)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSWA, FS-SE, NHL.TV

The Capitals also are going for their sixth consecutive win overall. They are 17-2-0 at home since Nov. 2. No other team has gone without a home loss since the start of December.
The Hurricanes have lost two in a row (0-2-0) and are 1-3-1 in their past five.
The Capitals and Hurricanes are playing the first of a back-to-back against each other. The rematch is at PNC Arena on Friday; it will their third game against each other in 11 days. The Capitals won 5-4 in overtime Jan. 2.

Players to watch

Defenseman Noah Hanifin, who leads Hurricanes defensemen with 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) in 42 games, was named an NHL All-Star on Wednesday.
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has nine points (four goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak. He has 27 goals, tied for the NHL lead with Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov.

They said it

"We've got eight overtime losses. We're not doing the job in the tighter games and Washington is. That's a lot of the difference, especially in our division." -- Hurricanes forward Justin Williams
"I know from a scouting standpoint it makes it easier. But when you play the same team back to back, a home-and-home type of thing … you're going to get sick of each other after six periods. That could get interesting." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz, on playing the Hurricanes twice in two days

Hurricanes projected lineup

Sebastian Aho -- Jordan Staal -- Elias Lindholm
Jeff Skinner -- Victor Rask -- Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn -- Derek Ryan -- Justin Williams
Joakim Nordstrom -- Marcus Kruger -- Josh Jooris
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Haydn Fleury -- Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Scott Darling
Cam Ward
Scratched:Lee Stempniak, Phillip Di Giuseppe, Klas Dahlbeck
Injured:None

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky -- Lars Eller -- T.J. Oshie
Chandler Stephenson -- Jay Beagle -- Alex Chiasson
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Christian Djoos -- John Carlson
Brooks Orpik -- Madison Bowey
Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched: Brett Connolly, Taylor Chorney
Injured:None

Status report

Darling will start in goal for the second time in the past nine games. Ward is expected to play Friday. … Chiasson returns to the lineup after being scratched from a 3-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.

Stat pack

Aho has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in his past eight games. The Hurricanes average the fewest penalty minutes per game in the NHL (5:49) and played their third penalty-free game of the season in a 5-4 loss against the Lightning on Tuesday. … Holtby is 8-0-0 with a 2.33 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage in eight home games since Dec. 2.