Preview: Bruins at Capitals

BRUINS (15-10-1) at CAPITALS (14-7-3)
8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV

Bruins team scope

The Boston Bruins have won three consecutive games and are 4-0-1 in their past five, including a 4-3 overtime win against the Florida Panthers on Monday, but coach Claude Julien is far from satisfied. "We're creating chances and our power play has been better as far as creating chances. Now we've got to work on making it count," he said. "There's always a bunch of areas you look at with your team and don't get satisfied because other teams are improving as well." Tuukka Rask was the first goalie off the ice at the morning skate and is expected to start. Rask is 3-0-1 with seven goals allowed in his past four games. He is second in the NHL with 1.68 GAA, and his .939 save percentage is fourth in the NHL.

Capitals team scope

Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie will return after missing seven games with an upper-body injury. Oshie progressed "a little bit" faster than anticipated, coach Barry Trotz said. He returns 19 days after being injured on a hit by Detroit Red Wings forward Riley Sheahan on Nov. 18. "Sometimes it depends on the individual, it depends on the healing process, it depends on how their body can handle the strain of being hurt and how it fixes and repairs itself," Trotz said. "Right now all indications is that [Oshie] is ready to go." Goalie Braden Holtby will make his 20th start of the season. Holtby has a 9-2-0 career record against the Bruins with three shutouts, a 1.57 GAA and a .952 save percentage. He's a big reason the Capitals have won six in a row against Boston, their longest winning streak against the Bruins since entering the NHL in 1974.

Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- David Pastrnak
Tim Schaller -- David Krejci -- David Backes
Ryan Spooner -- Riley Nash -- Austin Czarnik
Anton Blidh -- Dominic Moore -- Jimmy Hayes
Zdeno Chara -- Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug -- Adam McQuaid
Colin Miller -- Kevan Miller
Tuukka Rask
Anton Khudobin

Scratched: Joe Morrow
Injured:Matt Beleskey (lower body), John-Michael Liles (concussion), Frank Vatrano (foot)

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Justin Williams
Marcus Johansson -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky -- Lars Eller -- Jakub Vrana
Daniel Winnik -- Jay Beagle -- Tom Wilson
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Karl Alzner -- John Carlson
Brooks Orpik -- Nate Schmidt
Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched:Brett Connolly, Taylor Chorney
Injured:None

Status report

Vatrano, who tore ligaments in his right foot before training camp began, practiced Tuesday for the first time this season. … The Bruins assigned forward Noel Acciari to Providence of the American Hockey League. ... Trotz shuffled his lines and defense pairings in practice on Tuesday after a 3-2 overtime win against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday. "We're in a playoff race right now," Trotz said. "We're surrounded by teams, we're part of those teams. We're not too far out of first in our division and we're not too far from being out of the playoffs in our division so I think this is part of the playoff race. It's sort of starting right now."

Who's hot

Pastrnak has seven points in seven games, including two goals against the Florida Panthers on Monday. Krug has five points in his past five games. ... Johansson has three points in two games and is coming off a two-goal game against Buffalo. Carlson has assists in back-to-back games.