Rangers at Capitals preview

RANGERS (15-10-2) at CAPITALS (17-11-1)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, TVA Sports, NBCSWA, MSG, NHL.TV

Shattenkirk signed with the Rangers as a free agent on July 1 after finishing last season with the Capitals following his acquisition in a trade with the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 27. He has 20 points (five goals, 15 assists) in 27 games for the Rangers, who have won two in a row and are 12-3-0 in their past 15.
The Capitals have won three in a row. Washington is 10-2-0 at home since Nov. 2 and is 12-5-0 in its past 17 games overall. Forward Alex Ovechkin has eight goals in his past seven games.

Players to watch

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist is 5-0-0 in his past six appearances with a .945 save percentage and a 1.68 goals-against average. He did not play Tuesday in a 4-3 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins because of illness.
Capitals forward Andre Burakovsky (broken left thumb) returns after missing 20 games. He will play right wing on the third line.

They said It

"That team plays a lot like they have in the past even though some of the personnel has changed a little bit. It's a real good team. They've got a real strong top line and great goaltending. ... But they play the same type of system, execute it well. It's going to be a real hard game for us." -- Rangers coach Alain Vigneault on the Capitals.
"There's a lot of good teams and some good teams aren't going to make [the playoffs]. … They're all four-point games when you play head-to-head." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz on the Metropolitan Division race, in which the top six teams are separated by four points

Rangers projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- David Desharnais -- Pavel Buchnevich
Jimmy Vesey -- Kevin Hayes -- Rick Nash
Michael Grabner -- J.T. Miller -- Mats Zuccarello
Paul Carey -- Boo Nieves -- Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh -- Nick Holden
Brady Skjei -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Marc Staal --Brendan Smith
Henrik Lundqvist
Ondrej Pavelec
Scratched :Steven Kampfer
Injured:Mika Zibanejad (concussion)

Capitals projected lineup

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

Status report

The Rangers had an optional morning skate. Lundqvist's return is the only lineup change from Tuesday. … Oshie did not participate in the morning skate, but Trotz said he did off-ice workouts. The Capitals assigned forward Tyler Graovac to Hershey of the American Hockey League after he cleared waivers.

Stat pack

Kuznetsov has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in his past 10 games. The Capitals have killed 13 of 14 penalties in their past seven games ... The Rangers are 16-9-2 against Washington since Dec. 12, 2010. New York forward Mats Zuccarello has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past seven games.