Islanders at Capitals preview

ISLANDERS (31-16-6) at CAPITALS (36-14-5)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, ESPN+, SNW, SNP, TVAS, NBCSWA, MSG+, NHL.TV

Ovechkin (698 goals) did not score in a 7-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, but has 15 points (14 goals, one assist) in his past eight games.
Washington leads the Metropolitan Division and is 6-3-0 in its past nine games.
The Islanders are 3-1-2 in their past six games, fourth in division and hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The road team has won each of the past seven games in the series.

Players to watch

Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier has six points (three goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak.
Capitals goalie Ilya Samsonov is 2-0-0 with an 0.75 goals-against average and .970 save percentage against the Islanders this season.

They said it

"They're a big, heavy team, and they've probably got a little snarl from their last game. They're a proud group and they're heading on the road, so they're going to be focused. We better be ready tonight. They're going to be ready." -- Islanders coach Barry Trotz
"Tonight's a night for us to respond in number of different areas. The League is too good to play like we did on Saturday and expect any other result. So like I said, there's not a lot of areas I can say that we were successful in, so we discussed being better and tonight's all about the response." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- Mathew Barzal -- Jordan Eberle
Anthony Beauvillier -- Brock Nelson -- Josh Bailey
Ross Johnston -- Derick Brassard -- Michael Dal Colle
Matt Martin -- Casey Cizikas -- Leo Komarov
Devon Toews -- Ryan Pulock
Nick Leddy -- Johnny Boychuk
Noah Dobson -- Scott Mayfield
Thomas Greiss
Semyon Varlamov
Scratched:Sebastian Aho, Kieffer Bellows, Tom Kuhnhackl
Injured:Adam Pelech (Achilles tendon), Cal Clutterbuck (wrist)

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
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Martin Fehervary -- Dmitry Orlov
Jonas Siegenthaler -- Nick Jensen
Ilya Samsonov
Braden Holtby
Scratched:Travis Boyd, Radko Gudas
Injured: None

Status report

Pulock, who did not take another shift after a hit along the boards by Lightning forward Alex Killorn with 1:33 remaining in a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, participated in the morning skate. … Jensen is in the lineup after being a healthy scratch against the Flyers.

Stat pack

The Islanders are 27-2-3 this season when they score at least three goals (including overtime winners). … The Capitals are 15-11-2 when they allow the first goal, the second-best point percentage (.536) in the NHL behind the Boston Bruins (14-3-4, .667).