Capitals at Rangers

CAPITALS (6-1-3) at RANGERS (3-4-2)

Capitals projected lineup
Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- T.J. Oshie -- Richard Panik
Carl Hagelin -- Nic Dowd -- Garnet Hathaway
Michael Sgarbossa -- Daniel Sprong
Zdeno Chara -- John Carlson
Brenden Dillon -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Dmitry Orlov -- Nick Jensen
Jonas Siegenthaler
Vitek Vanecek
Craig Anderson
Scratched: None
Injured:Justin Schultz (face), Lars Eller (upper body), Conor Sheary (lower body)
COVID-19 protocol:Ilya Samsonov, Evgeny Kuznetsov
Rangers projected lineup
Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin -- Ryan Strome -- Kaapo Kakko
Alexis Lafreniere
-- Brett Howden -- Phillip Di Giuseppe
Brendan Lemieux -- Kevin Rooney -- Julien Gauthier
Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller -- Jacob Trouba
Libor Hajek -- Anthony Bitetto
Igor Shesterkin
Alexandar Georgiev
Scratched:None
Injured:Filip Chytil (upper body), Jack Johnson (lower body), Colin Blackwell (upper body), Brendan Smith (upper body)
Status report
The Capitals are expected to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen unless they make a roster move prior to the game. ... Vanecek is expected to make his eighth straight start. ... Shesterkin will start for the second straight game and for the fifth time in the past seven games. ... Kakko was removed from COVID-19 protocol Wednesday and is expected to play. ... Hajek will make his season debut.