Coyotes at Capitals preview

Washington is 10-0-1 in its past 11 games, outscoring opponents 51-31.

Capitals forward Richard Panik is expected to return after missing 10 games because of an upper-body injury. 

Arizona is on a three-game winless streak (0-2-1) after going 8-2-0 in its previous 10 games.

The Coyotes are beginning a stretch of three road games in four nights, including the second of back-to-back games Tuesday at the St. Louis Blues.

Players to watch 

Coyotes forward Michael Grabner has four points (two goals, two assists) during a four-game point streak.

Capitals forward Tom Wilson has eight points (four goals, four assists) during a four-game multipoint streak.

They said it

"If you watch the film of [the Capitals], they'll make plays to an area they know the guy is going to be there. So, what we're trying to do here is trying to get some chemistry where our young guys have played together for years and years. You can tell that Washington has played a lot of years together and they're a high-level team." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet

"I think the reason that we've been able to string together some point streaks here is because of our depth, because of everyone's understanding of what's expected of them. … It's been a team effort backed up by some solid goaltending and improved defensive play." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden

Coyotes projected lineup

Christian Dvorak -- Nick Schmaltz -- Phil Kessel

Clayton Keller -- Derek Stepan -- Vinnie Hinostroza

Lawson Crouse -- Carl Soderberg -- Conor Garland

Michael Grabner -- Brad Richardson -- Christian Fischer

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Jason Demers

Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski

Aaron Ness -- Jordan Oesterle

Antti Raanta

Darcy Kuemper

Scratched: Barrett Hayton, Ilya Lyubushkin

Injured: Niklas Hjalmarsson (lower body)

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie

Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson

Chandler Stephenson -- Lars Eller -- Richard Panik

Brendan Leipsic -- Nic Dowd -- Garnet Hathaway

Michal Kempny -- John Carlson

Dmitry Orlov -- Radko Gudas

Jonas Siegenthaler -- Nick Jensen

Ilya Samsonov

Braden Holtby

Scratched: None 

Injured: Carl Hagelin (upper body)

Status report

Tocchet said Demers is a game-time decision after missing two games because of a lower-body injury. … Hagelin remains day to day. ... The Capitals assigned defenseman Tyler Lewington and forward Travis Boyd to Hershey of the American Hockey League.

Stat pack

Schmaltz leads the Coyotes with nine points (three goals, six assists) in nine road games. ... Hinostroza has three points (two goals, one assist) during a three-game point streak. ... Soderberg will play his 500th NHL game. … Of Ovechkin's 12 goals, one has come at Capital One Arena. ... Carlson has five points (one goal, four assists) in the past two games. ... Vrana has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past seven games. ... Kempny has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past six games.