Red Wings at Capitals preview

RED WINGS (10-9-2) at CAPITALS (11-7-3)
4 p.m. ET; SN360, SNE, SNO, SNP, NBCSWA, FS-D, NHL.TV

Goalie Braden Holtby made 37 saves and four players scored in a 4-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday.
Washington center Evgeny Kuznetsov and forward T.J. Oshie each will miss his fourth straight game; each is day to day with an upper-body injury.
The Red Wings are 6-1-0 in their previous seven games, including a 3-2 overtime victory against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday, and 9-2-0 in their past 11 after a 1-7-2 start.

Players to watch

Detroit center Andreas Athanasiou scored two goals, including the game-winner, against Boston and has eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past six games.
Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past 10 games.

They said it

"After that tough start we kind of figured it out as a group and we knew that we could bounce back, and it's showed the last 10 games." -- Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi
"In order for our team to have success you focus on your job, and no one's job is more [important] than the others. It's a team, and when we have success it's a complete team effort. That's what we're getting right now. In doing that, we still know we can keep pushing forward and get better." -- Capitals goalie Braden Holtby

Red Wings projected lineup

Justin Abdelkader -- Dylan Larkin -- Anthony Mantha
Gustav Nyquist -- Frans Nielsen -- Andreas Athanasiou
Tyler Bertuzzi -- Luke Glendening -- Michael Rasmussen
Martin Frk -- Jacob de la Rose -- Thomas Vanek
Trevor Daley -- Mike Green
Niklas Kronwall -- Dennis Cholowski
Danny DeKeyser -- Nick Jensen
Jonathan Bernier
Jimmy Howard
Scratched: Luke Witkowski, Christoffer Ehn
Injured: Evgeny Svechnikov (knee surgery), Jonathan Ericsson (undisclosed), Darren Helm (upper body)

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

Neither Kuznetsov nor Oshie has resumed skating.

Stat pack

Detroit has allowed two goals or fewer in six of its previous seven games. ... Ovechkin needs one power-play goal to move past Mario Lemieux (236) and tie Brendan Shanahan (237) for sixth place on the NHL all-time list. ... Wilson has five points (one goal, four assists) in a three-game point streak. ... Carlson has four assists in a three-game point streak.