Hurricanes at Capitals preview

HURRICANES (15-15-5) at CAPITALS (22-10-3)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSWA, FS-CR, NHL.TV

Ovechkin, who was named to his 10th All-Star Game and will captain the Metropolitan Division team, leads the NHL in goals. He has one point (an assist) in his past three games after scoring 23 points (17 goals, six assists) in a 14-game point streak.
Washington has won two straight and is 7-1-0 in its past eight. The Capitals are 14-3-0 in their past 17 games and have scored at least four goals in 10 of their past 13.
Carolina is 2-4-1 in its past seven games.

Players to Watch

Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in his past eight games.
Capitals goalie Braden Holtby 4-1-0 with a 1.99 goals-against average, .937 save percentage and one shutout in his past five starts.

They said it

"The good part about it is [both teams are] in the same boat, so you don't really know how it affects everyone, the layoff. We'll probably find out pretty quickly as the game's moving along. -- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour
"They put a lot of pucks in the good areas to go and forecheck and their defensemen are very aggressive at pinching down on both sides to keep pucks alive. It's a challenge, and especially a challenge after a few days of layoff because they do a good job of taking away time and space." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden

Hurricanes projected lineup

Andrei Svechnikov -- Sebastian Aho -- Teuvo Teravainen
Micheal Ferland -- Clark Bishop -- Justin Williams
Warren Foegele -- Lucas Wallmark -- Jordan Martinook
Janne Kuokkanen -- Victor Rask -- Brock McGinn
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Calvin de Haan -- Justin Faulk
Trevor van Riemsdyk -- Dougie Hamilton
Petr Mrazek
Curtis McElhinney
Scratches: Phillip Di Giuseppe
Injured: Haydn Fleury (concussion), Jordan Staal (upper body)

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky -- Lars Eller -- Brett Connolly
Chandler Stephenson -- Travis Boyd -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Jonas Siegenthaler -- Madison Bowey
Braden Holtby
Pheonix Copley
Scratches: Nic Dowd, Dmitrij Jaskin, Tyler Lewington
Injured: Christian Djoos (leg), Brooks Orpik (knee)

Status report

Brind'Amour said Staal may be dealing with lingering effects from his previous concussion and "just doesn't feel right." … Orpik shed his non-contact jersey for the morning skate and will go through a full practice Friday.

Stat pack

Teravainen had two goals and two assists against the Boston Bruins on Sunday. … Ovechkin is one power-play goal from passing Brendan Shanahan (237) for sole possession of sixth place on NHL all-time list.