Avalanche at Capitals preview

AVALANCHE (22-22-8) at CAPITALS (29-18-6)
7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSWA, ALT, NHL.TV

The Avalanche, outscored 20-7 during their losing streak, are 3-12-2 in their past 17 games and have allowed at least four goals in eight of their past 12 games. They are two points behind the Vancouver Canucks for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
The Capitals, 2-6-2 in their past 10 games, have allowed at least four goals in five of their past nine games. They are in second place in the Metropolitan Division, two points behind the first-place New York Islanders.

Players to watch

Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in his past 11 games.
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past four games.

They said it

"I think happy hockey players and players that are going to have fun are productive hockey players and sometimes recently we've had the tendency to hang our heads and feel sorry for ourselves. We're going through a stretch here where we're struggling, but I want our guys to come with a positive mindset and reset every day." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"You can look at the number of odd-man rushes from prior to the [all-star] break to post-break and it's not really comparable. In a good way. So hopefully that will help us eliminate some of the offense we were giving to teams before the break." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Calvert
Alex Kerfoot -- J.T. Compher -- Colin Wilson
Sven Andrighetto -- Sheldon Dries -- Gabriel Bourque
Ian Cole -- Erik Johnson
Nikita Zadorov -- Tyson Barrie
Patrik Nemeth -- Samuel Girard
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched: A.J. Greer, Anton Lindholm
Injured: Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder), Mark Barberio (head)

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
Brooks Orpik -- Madison Bowey
Pheonix Copley
Braden Holtby
Scratched: Nic Dowd, Dmitrij Jaskin, Jonas Siegenthaler
Injured:Christian Djoos (thigh)

Status report

The Avalanche recalled forward Greer and defenseman Lindholm from Colorado of the American Hockey League (AHL) on Wednesday. … Djoos, who has missed 23 games, has completed his injury assignment with Hershey of the AHL and could play against the Florida Panthers on Saturday, Reirden said.

Stat pack

MacKinnon has 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in his past 16 games. … Oshie has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past six games. … Kuznetsov has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past five games. … Connolly is playing in his 400th NHL game and Burakovsky in his 300th.