Avalanche at Capitals preview

AVALANCHE (14-13-2) at CAPITALS (18-12-1)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSWA, ALT, NHL.TV

]The Avalanche play the second of a back to back after goalie Jonathan Bernier made 39 saves in a 2-1 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Varlamov (9-7-1, 3.14 goals-against average, .905 save percentage) played three seasons for the Capitals (2008-11). He made 28 saves in Colorado's 6-2 win against Washington at Pepsi Center on Nov. 16.
The Capitals are 11-2-0 in their past 13 home games and play the second of a back to back following a 3-1 loss at the New York Islanders. Captain Alex Ovechkin has 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in his past nine games. He leads the NHL with 21 goals.

Players to watch

Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog needs two points for 300 in his NHL career.
Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov has points in eight of his past 11 games (two goals, six assists).

They said it

"It's been a good road trip so far. Even that first loss [against the Tampa Bay Lightning], I thought we had some good building blocks to build off. We took it into [the Florida Panthers] game and [against the Penguins]. We just have to keep it going to finish it off in Washington." -- Avalanche defenseman Mark Barberio on the end of a four-game road trip.
"Another young team with good speed. We need a better start than we had [Monday]. They also handed it to us a couple weeks. We didn't have a good start there, either, didn't handle the altitude well. Rough night." -- Capitals forward Chandler Stephenson

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Colin Wilson -- J.T. Compher -- Sven Andrighetto
Gabriel Bourque -- Tyson Jost -- Nail Yakupov
Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson
Patrik Nemeth -- Tyson Barrie
Samuel Girard -- Mark Barberio
Anton Lindholm
Semyon Varlamov
Jonathan Bernier
Scratched:Duncan Siemens
Injured:Vladislav Kamenev (arm), Alexander Kerfoot (lower body)

Capitals projected lineup

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

Status report

Oshie skated for the second time in three days. He has not played since Dec. 4. … Neither Grubauer nor Holtby, pulled in the second period Monday, would confirm who would start. …The Avalanche did not have a morning skate. … Kerfoot was injured Monday, leaving Colorado with 11 forwards. If Kerfoot can't play, the options are Yakupov or Bourque.

Stat pack

The Capitals are 6-5-0 in back-to-back games. …The Avalanche are 4-6-2 in back-to-back games.