Capitals at Coyotes preview

CAPITALS (22-12-1) at COYOTES (7-24-5)
9 p.m. ET; FS-A, NBCSWA+, NHL.TV

Washington is 8-1-0 this month, 11-2-0 in its past 13 games, and 17-6-0 in its past 23. Since coach Barry Trotz was hired in 2014, December has been a big month for the Capitals; they're a combined 35-8-7 in 50 games during the month the past four seasons.
The Coyotes have lost seven straight games (0-6-1), during which they've scored nine goals. However, the Coyotes are 5-0-1 in their past six home games against the Capitals.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in his past 13 games. He has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 15 career games against the Coyotes.
Coyotes forward Clayton Keller has three points (one goal, two assists) during a three-game point streak.

They said it

"I think maybe some of the optics were just a little bit different on an older, more veteran, savvy team, but in my mind, I knew that we would be pretty good and that the team would just have a different look." -- Capitals defenseman John Carlson, on Washington's ability to sustain success despite offseason roster changes
"We're having a lot of lessons this year, probably more than we really want to." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet

Capitals projected lineup

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

Coyotes projected lineup

Brendan Perlini -- Derek Stepan -- Tobias Rieder
Clayton Keller -- Max Domi -- Christian Fischer
Zac Rinaldo -- Christian Dvorak -- Josh Archibald
Jordan Martinook -- Brad Richardson -- Nick Cousins
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Jason Demers
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Kevin Connauton -- Luke Schenn
Scott Wedgewood
Antti Raanta
Scratched: Joel Hanley](https://www.nhl.com/player/joel-hanley-8477810?season=20172018), Anthony Duclair, Nicholas Merkley
Injured: Niklas Hjalmarsson](https://www.nhl.com/player/niklas-hjalmarsson-8471769?season=20172018) (upper body)

Status report

Coyotes general manager John Chayka said Hjalmarsson has been skating on his own, but there are no plans yet for him to practice. Hjalmarsson hasn't played since a 3-2 overtime loss against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Nov. 28.

Stat pack

Kuznetsov has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past four games. … Backstrom has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past seven games. … The Coyotes have the best penalty kill in the NHL since Oct. 31 at 89.2 percent in 23 games. … The Capitals and Coyotes each have scored the game's first goal 18 times this season. The Capitals are 15-2-1 in those games, the Coyotes are 5-10-3.