Capitals at Islanders preview

CAPITALS (18-11-1) at ISLANDERS (16-10-3)
7 p.m. ET; MSG+, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

All four wins came at home. They outscored opponents 18-8 while winning their past four games at Capital One Arena.
The Islanders return home after going 1-2-1 on a four-game road trip. New York has lost four of its past five games and hasn't allowed fewer than three goals in any of them.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Tom Wilson has three goals, four assists and a plus-6 rating during a three-game point streak.
Forward Anders Lee has six goals in his past seven games and is tied with John Tavares for the Islanders lead with 17 goals.

They said it

"They've added some young skill that probably gives them a little better scoring depth. I didn't play in the first game against them (a 4-3 win on Nov. 2), I watched it. And just paying attention from around the League, it seems like they've got the usual suspects like Tavares, and Anders Lee is having a heck of a year. So they've got some guys that can score, but they've added some skill around them." -- Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen
"If I didn't feel good about him, I don't think he'd be starting. Yeah, I feel good about him. I feel good about both our goalies. No one else does. I don't really care." -- Islanders coach Doug Weight on goaltender Jaroslav Halak

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Alex Chiasson
Brett Connolly -- Lars Eller -- Andre Burakovsky
Chandler Stephenson -- Jay Beagle -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik -- John Carlson
Christian Djoos -- Madison Bowey
Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched:Taylor Chorney
Injured:T.J. Oshie (upper body)

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- John Tavares -- Josh Bailey
Andrew Ladd -- Mathew Barzal -- Jordan Eberle
Brock Nelson -- Anthony Beauvillier -- Joshua Ho-Sang
Jason Chimera -- Casey Cizikas -- Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy -- Ryan Pulock
Calvin de Haan -- Adam Pelech
Dennis Seidenberg -- Scott Mayfield
Jaroslav Halak
Thomas Greiss
Scratched:Alan Quine
Injured:Johnny Boychuk (lower body), Thomas Hickey (upper body), Nikolay Kulemin (upper body)

Status report

The Capitals did not hold a morning skate. … Oshie skated on his own Sunday for the first time since he was injured in a game against the San Jose Sharks last Monday. He did not accompany the Capitals to New York and is day-to-day. … Boychuk, who was injured during a 6-2 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning last Tuesday, will be a game-time decision. Hickey was placed on injured reserve Sunday, retroactive to Dec. 9. Forward Shane Prince was removed from injured reserve and sent to Bridgeport of the American Hockey League for conditioning.

Stat pack

Washington is 11-4-3 in its past 18 games against New York. The Capitals have scored the first goal 15 times this season (12-2-1). … New York has scored at least five goals 12 times this season (11-1-0). The Islanders have allowed a power-play goal in seven straight games and surrendered the first goal in each of their past five.