Stars at Capitals preview

STARS (7-5-0) at CAPITALS (5-4-2)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSWA, FS-SW, NHL.TV

It's the fourth of a six-game trip for Dallas, which lost its first three games on the road this season before a 4-1 win at the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 30 and a 2-1 victory at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.
Goalie Braden Holtby, who has lost his past two starts, will start for Washington, which opens a five-game homestand.
The Capitals went 2-2-0 in four consecutive road games that ended with a 6-4 loss to the Canadiens on Thursday and have not won consecutive games this season.

Players to watch

Stars forward Devin Shore has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past six games.
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past seven games, including two goals Thursday.

They said it

"Sometimes all it takes is stringing a couple wins together and you start feeling that confidence, and you're not really thinking out there, you start playing. I think that's where we are right now." -- Stars goalie Ben Bishop
"We've been a pretty good home team for a lot of years now, so if we can start it off on the right foot and make it a tough place to play in, it will benefit us for the long haul. -- Capitals defenseman John Carlson on the five-game homestand

Stars projected lineup

Devin Shore -- Tyler Seguin -- Mattias Janmark
Jamie Benn -- Jason Spezza -- Valeri Nichushkin
Tyler Pitlick -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau
Gemel Smith -- Jason Dickinson -- Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen -- Roman Polak
Dillon Heatherington -- Julius Honka
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched:Justin Dowling
Injured: Alexander Radulov (lower body), Marc Methot (lower body), Martin Hanzal (back), Stephen Johns (concussion), Connor Carrick (foot)

Capitals projected lineup

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

Status report

Radulov, who has missed five of the past six games with a lower-body injury, returned to Dallas to receive treatment and will miss the remainder of the road trip … Heatherington will make his season debut with Methot out with a lower-body injury that sidelined him for three games earlier this season. … Orpik did not participate in the morning skate and will miss his second consecutive game.

Stat pack

Bishop is 3-1-0 with a 2.01 goals-against average in his past four starts. … Kuznetsov has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past seven games. … Klingberg and Carlson are tied for the NHL lead among defensemen with five goals each.