Oilers at Capitals preview

OILERS (6-9-1) at CAPITALS (9-7-1)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, TVA Sports, SN, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

The Capitals began the season 1-3-0 at home after going 32-7-2 in Washington last season. They have won four of their past five games, and forward Alex Ovechkin is one power-play goal shy of tying Jaromir Jagr and Mike Gartner (217) for 10th place in NHL history.
Laurent Brossoit will start for the Oilers, who lost to the New York Rangers 4-2 on Saturday. It will be his second start this season. Connor McDavid, who scored against the Rangers, has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past nine games.
The Capitals defeated the Oilers 5-2 on Oct. 28 in Edmonton.

Players to watch

Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl has four goals and five assists in his past eight games.
Capitals defenseman John Carlson has two goals and four assists in his past five games.

They said it

"We've got 10 players in the bottom six that have scored about two goals total. That's disappointing. It's flat-out disappointing." -- Oilers coach Brian McLellan on the lack of offense
"Special teams, as much as they didn't have the numbers at home, they did great numbers against [Pittsburgh on Friday]. If we're going to stack up some wins, we're going to have to get all three phases of the game going at the same time." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz, whose team scored two power-play goals against the Penguins

Oilers projected lineup

Pat Maroon -- Connor McDavid -- Leon Draisaitl
Milan Lucic -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Jujhar Khaira -- Ryan Strome -- Iiro Pakarinen
Brad Malone -- Mark Letestu -- Zack Kassian
Darnell Nurse -- Adam Larsson
Oscar Klefbom -- Matt Benning
Kris Russell -- Yohann Auvitu
Laurent Brossoit
Cam Talbot
Scratched: Jussi Jokinen, Eric Gryba
Injured: Andrej Sekera (knee), Drake Caggiula (ankle), Anton Slepyshev (lower body)

Capitals projected lineup

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

Status report

Connolly (concussion) returns to the lineup for the first time since Oct. 26. ... Niskanen has been cleared for contact, according to Trotz, and will accompany the team on their road trip against the Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche. … Auvitu returns to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 1. …Khaira will play for the first time since Oct. 28.

Stat pack

Entering play Sunday, the Oilers penalty kill ranked last in the League (69.8 percent). … The Capitals have scored 16 goals each in the first, second and third periods.