Devils at Capitals preview

DEVILS (44-28-9) at CAPITALS (48-26-7)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, MSG+, NBCSW, NHL.TV

The Devils, who have won four in a row and are 7-0-1 in their past eight, clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Thursday and are tied in points with the Columbus Blue Jackets at 97. New Jersey holds the first wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference because the Blue Jackets earned more points head-to-head in the season series (3-1-0).
New Jersey will finish third and play the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference First Round only if it finishes with more points that Columbus and the Philadelphia Flyers (96). The Devils lose any two or three-way tiebreak with those teams.
Devils left wing Taylor Hall will sit despite being one shy of his first 40-goal season in the NHL.
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin needs a hat trick for his eighth 50-goal season. He leads the League in goals (47) and is trying to the win the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy for the seventh time.
Washington has finished first in the Metropolitan Division and will play the first wild card.

Players to watch

Devils defenseman Will Butcher has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his past eight games.
Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom has 12 points (one goal, 11 assists) in his past seven games. He is three points shy of 800 for his career.

They said it

"Absolutely it's a consideration, and we talked to Taylor about that. I think that's one of the things we try to do … is the players are people too and you certainly understand that there's individual things that are important. But I think that goes to show the type of guy Taylor is and where his head's at, where his mindset's at. He's all about the team and he's all about winning." -- Devils coach John Hynes on sitting forward Taylor Hall one goal shy of 40.
"It's an advantage for them to see us, too. It's even. We see each other. We're just going to try to roll our fur lines. We could play Jersey, we could play Philly, we could play Columbus. It really doesn't matter. We're going to have to play good teams. What's separating the good teams right now in the Metro is a bad weekend." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz on the possibility of playing the Devils in the regular-season finale and in the Eastern Conference First Round

Devils projected lineup

Jesper Bratt -- Nico Hischier -- Drew Stafford
Brian Gibbons -- Blake Coleman -- Stefan Noesen
Miles Wood -- Pavel Zacha -- Pat Maroon
Michael Grabner -- Brian Boyle -- Jimmy Hayes
Andy Greene -- Mirco Mueller
John Moore -- Damon Severson
Will Butcher -- Ben Lovejoy
Cory Schneider
Keith Kinkaid
Scratched:Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri, Travis Zajac, Sami Vatanen, Steven Santini, Eddie Lack
Injured:Marcus Johansson (concussion)

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Brett Connolly
Jakub Vrana -- Lars Eller -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Shane Gersich -- Chandler Stephenson -- Alex Chiasson
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Brooks Orpik -- Jakub Jerabek
Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched: T.J. Oshie, Christian Djoos, Tyler Boyd, Madison Bowey, Brian Pinho
Injured:Jay Beagle (upper body)

Status report

Schneider will make his first start since March 20. … Oshie, who nursed a lower-body injury earlier in the week and missed a game against the St. Louis Blues on Monday, will sit.

Stat pack

The Devils have three rookies (Hischier, Butcher, Bratt) with 30 points or more for the second time in franchise history. … Kuznetsov has 27 points (11 goals, 16 assists) in his past 17 games.