Devils at Capitals preview

DEVILS (9-10-4) at CAPITALS (14-7-3)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, TVAS, NBCSWA+, MSG+, NHL.TV

A victory would give the Capitals their longest winning streak since they won nine consecutive games from Dec. 31, 2016-Jan. 15, 2017.
Center Evgeny Kuznetsov will return to the Washington lineup after missing six games because of an upper-body injury. He has 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) in 18 game this season.
Goalie Braden Holtby will start; he's 4-0-0 with a 1.08 goals-against average and .968 save percentage in his past four games (three starts).
The Devils have lost three straight (0-1-2) and are 1-2-3 in their past six games. They have allowed at least four goals in three straight games.
New Jersey defeated visiting Washington 6-0 on Oct. 11.

Players to watch

Devils forward
Michael McLeod
, selected with the No. 12 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, will make his League debut.
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has eight points (six goals, two assists) in a six-game point streak. He needs one goal to pass Joe Sakic and Jarome Iginla (625) for sole possession of 15th place on the NHL all-time list.

They said it

"[McLeod's] a fast, tenacious player and adds size (6-foot-2, 188 pounds) to our lineup. He's very competitive. That's something we've talked about wanting more from our forward group, is guys that are harder to play against. He adds kind of both, the speed element and some more size. Hopefully he comes in and takes someone's job." -- Devils coach John Hynes on rookie forward Michael McLeod
"Just so fortunate to have [Kuznetsov] back and the energy he brings, the speed, allows us to slot our lines a little differently. He's one of the elite players in the league when he's playing the way he can play." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden

Devils projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Nico Hischier -- Jesper Bratt
Marcus Johansson -- Pavel Zacha -- Kyle Palmieri
Brett Seney -- Travis Zajac -- Blake Coleman
Brian Boyle -- Michael McLeod -- Miles Wood
Andy Greene -- Damon Severson
Mirco Mueller -- Sami Vatanen
Will Butcher -- Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
Cory Schneider
Scratched: Drew Stafford, Stefan Noesen, Egor Yakovlev
Injured: Steven Santini (broken jaw), Joey Anderson (lower body)

Capitals projected lineup

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

Status report

Anderson underwent surgery Tuesday for a broken right ankle. … Oshie has not resumed skating.

Stat pack

The Devils power play is 1-for-23 in the past 11 games. … Hall needs two goals for 200 in the NHL and two points for 500 in the League. … Holtby is 15-3-3 with four shutouts against New Jersey. … Ovechkin needs one power-play goal to pass Mario Lemieux (236) and tie Brendan Shanahan (237) for sixth place on the all-time list.