Devils at Capitals preview

DEVILS (15-21-7) at CAPITALS (30-10-5)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSWA, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV

Ovechkin, who is tied with Selanne with 684 goals, has 60 points (26 goals and 34 assists) in 54 games against the Devils.
Washington is 3-1-0 in past its past four games, and 14-6-0 in its past 20 games.
Forward Jesper Bratt is expected to return for the Devils after missing three games with a lower-body injury. New Jersey is 0-2-1 in its past three games after going 4-0-1 in its previous five games.

Players to watch

Devils center Nico Hischier has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past seven games.
Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov has nine points (four goals, five assists) in a seven-game point streak.

They said it

"I think tonight's a good test. We're playing a good team. We're in a bit of a slide. We had a good stretch. We've had success. Now, how are we going to respond to some adversity? And there's no better way than to do it against a really good team. We had the day off yesterday and a very productive meeting this morning. … It's a matter of going back to playing the right way." -- Devils coach Alain Nasreddine
"I think they've played some better hockey since their coaching change. The (Taylor) Hall trade has also made them a little more blue collar in terms of the work that they do and how they go about things. They're a disciplined team that certainly isn't going to make it easy on you. They play every shift hard."-- Capitals coach Todd Reirden

Devils projected lineup

Jesper Bratt -- Nico Hischier -- Kyle Palmieri
Blake Coleman -- Travis Zajac -- Nikita Gusev
Miles Wood -- Pavel Zacha -- Wayne Simmonds
Jesper Boqvist -- Kevin Rooney -- John Hayden
Andy Greene -- P.K. Subban
Damon Severson -- Sami Vatanen
Will Butcher -- Connor Carrick
Louis Domingue
Evan Cormier
Scratched:Mirco Mueller
Injured: Jack Hughes (upper body), Ben Street (upper body), Mackenzie Blackwood (upper body)

Capitals projected lineup

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

Status report

The Devils recalled Cormier from Binghamton of the American Hockey League. … Street, a defenseman, was placed on injured reserve Saturday. … Hughes did not travel with the team. … The Capitals reassigned defenseman Christian Djoos to Hershey of the AHL.

Stat pack

The Devils are 1-7-1 in their past nine games at Capital One Arena. … Severson has three points (one goal, two assists) in his past two games. … The Capitals power play is 7-for-51 (13.7 percent) over the past 17 games. … Oshie has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past five games. … Backstrom has seven points (one goal, six assists) in a seven-game point streak.