Blackhawks at Capitals preview

BLACKHAWKS (8-8-5) at CAPITALS (10-7-3)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSWA, WGN, NHL.TV

Chicago, which is 2-0-2 in its past four games, has scored two goals or fewer in four of its past five games, but has allowed two or fewer in three straight games. The Blackhawks are 0-6-1 in their past seven games at Washington.
The Capitals have won two straight and return home after a 3-1-0 road trip.
Goalie Braden Holtby will make his first start in five games. After missing three games with an upper-body injury, he replacedPheonix Copley against the Montreal Canadiens and stopped all 22 shots he faced in a 5-4 overtime win Monday.
Washington forwards Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie won't play for a third straight game. They are day-to-day with upper-body injuries.

Players to watch

Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford is 2-0-1 with an 0.65 goals-against average, a .980 save percentage and one shutout in his past three starts.
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has three goals in his past two games.

They said it

"We want to give these guys as much information as we can while not overloading them. A lot of people talk about process, but that's the case. I've been telling them lately, 'Take care of own performance and the results will come.' So that's our focus right now." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton
"They're still the same players, which are extremely dangerous players. When you're talking about [Patrick] Kane and [Jonathan] Toews and [Duncan] Keith and [Corey] Crawford, they're elite, elite players that have won Stanley Cups multiple times. It's a challenge. They've got really high-end skill." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden

Blackhawks projected lineup

Brandon Saad -- Jonathan Toews -- Patrick Kane
Nick Schmaltz -- Artem Anisimov -- Alex DeBrincat
Alexandre Fortin - David Kampf -- Dominik Kahun
John Hayden -- Marcus Kruger - Andreas Martinsen
Duncan Keith -- Brent Seabrook
Erik Gustafsson -- Henri Jokiharju
Gustav Forsling -- Jan Rutta
Corey Crawford
Cam Ward
Scratched:Chris Kunitz, Luke Johnson, Brandon Manning
Injured:None

Capitals projected lineup

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

Status report

Orpik is expected to miss 4-6 weeks after having an arthroscopic surgical procedure on his right knee.

Stat pack

Chicago's last win in Washington was Jan. 10, 2006 (4-3 in overtime). ... Toews has five points (two goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak. … Ovechkin needs one power-play goal to pass Mario Lemieux (236) and tie Brendan Shanahan (237) for sixth in NHL history. ... Backstrom has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his past nine games.