Flames at Capitals preview

FLAMES (11-8-0) at CAPITALS (11-9-1)
7 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, NBCSWA+, SNW, NHL.TV

The Capitals haven't lost at home since Oct. 21 against the Florida Panthers and have held opponents to one goal in each of their past three home games. They are in a stretch of nine games in 10 at home.
Washington forward Alex Ovechkin hasn't scored a goal in his past five games.
The Flames have won six of eight. Forward Johnny Gaudreau has an NHL career-best nine-game point streak (7-10-17). Forward Sean Monahan has six goals in his past seven games against the Capitals.

Players to watch

Flames goalie Mike Smith (.919 save percentage, 2.70 goals-against average) returned from an upper-body injury and made 35 saves in a 5-4 overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Smith made 30 saves in a 2-1 win against Washington in Calgary on Oct. 29.
Capitals goalie Braden Holtby (.921 save percentage, 2.56 GAA) is tied for third in the League in wins (11). He made 30 saves in a 3-1 win against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.

They said it

"We had to tighten up our neutral zone. Last game it was a culprit for us, four or five chances where we gave some odd-man rushes and zone time. You can't do that against this team here. Well, you can't do it against any team, but we dodged a few bullets in [Philadelphia]." -- Flames coach Glen Gulutzan on the Capitals
"It is jammed up and I don't foresee it not being jammed up all year. Other than maybe Tampa and St. Louis and Los Angeles and a couple of teams that have a little bit of a lead. But the rest of us are just mortal." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz on the NHL's compressed standings

Flames projected lineup

Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Micheal Ferland
Matthew Tkachuk -- Mikael Backlund -- Michael Frolik
Sam Bennett -- Mark Jankowski -- Jaromir Jagr
Kris Versteeg -- Freddie Hamilton -- Troy Brouwer
Mark Giordano -- Dougie Hamilton
TJ Brodie -- Travis Hamonic
Brett Kulak -- Michael Stone
Mike Smith
Eddie Lack
Scratched:Matt Bartkowski, Curtis Lazar, Matt Stajan
Injured: None

Capitals projected lineup

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

Status report

Djoos hasn't skated since he was injured Tuesday, but Trotz is hopeful he will by the end of the week. … Freddie Hamilton returns to the Flames lineup for Lazar.

Stat pack

The Capitals have scored at least two power-play goals in a game five times. …The Flames are 18-4 in overtime or the shootout since the start of 2016-17, including 5-0 this season.