Canadiens at Capitals preview

CANADIENS (27-27-8) at CAPITALS (37-17-5)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NBCSWA, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV

The forward, who's scored 698 goals in his 15 NHL seasons, has no points in his past five games after having 15 points (14 goals, one assist) in his previous seven.
Ovechkin has 54 points (32 goals, 22 assists) in 49 games against Montreal.
The Capitals, 3-6-0 in their past nine games, trail the Pittsburgh Penguins by one point for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Defenseman Brenden Dillon, acquired in a trade with the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, is expected to make his Washington debut on the first pair with John Carlson.
The Canadiens, on a five-game winless streak (0-4-1) after going 5-1-0 in their previous six, are 10 points behind the Carolina Hurricanes, New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Canadiens center Nick Suzuki has five points (two goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak.
Capitals forward T.J. Oshie has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past 11 games.

They said it

"From here to the end of the year, no matter what happens, we have to improve as a hockey club and I want to see guys that are ready to improve and continue to show that they want to get better and that's what I'm looking for." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien
"Just starting to meet the guys this morning. It feels like a tight-knit family in here, and there's a reason that they've had so much success not just this year but in years past. I'm just trying to be a piece to the puzzle, come in and do what I can." -- Capitals defenseman Brenden Dillon

Canadiens projected lineup

Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin -- Nick Suzuki -- Joel Armia
Artturi Lehkonen -- Max Domi -- Ilya Kovalchuk
Paul Byron -- Nate Thompson -- Nick Cousins
Ben Chiarot -- Shea Weber
Brett Kulak -- Jeff Petry
Xavier Ouellet -- Christian Folin
Carey Price
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: Jordan Weal, Dale Weise
Injured: Victor Mete (lower body)

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin -- Lars Eller -- Richard Panik
Travis Boyd -- Nic Dowd -- Garnet Hathaway
Brenden Dillon -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Nick Jensen
Michal Kempny -- Radko Gudas
Braden Holtby
Ilya Samsonov
Scratched: Brendan Leipsic, Jonas Siegenthaler
Injured: None

Status report

Gallagher (lower body) will be a game-time decision. … Mete will not play after blocking a shot off his foot in a 4-3 loss at the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday. Julien said X-rays were negative and the defenseman will be examined further when the team returns to Montreal. … Kuznetsov returns after missing three games with an upper-body injury.

Stat pack

Tatar has five points (one goal, four assists) in two games against Washington this season. … This is Ovechkin's longest goal drought since he went six games without one from Dec. 19-31, 2018. … Holtby has a 2.07 goals-against average and .933 save percentage in his past four games (three starts).