Flyers at Capitals preview

FLYERS (29-18-7) at CAPITALS (36-13-5)
7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSWA, NBCSP, NHL.TV
The Game
Alex Ovechkin seeks to become the eighth player in NHL history to score 700 goals when the Washington Capitals host the Philadelphia Flyers at Capital One Arena on Saturday.

Ovechkin, who has 698 goals, scored the first natural hat trick of his career in the third period of a 4-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, and has 14 goals in his past seven games.
The Capitals are 6-2-0 in their past eight games.
Flyers defenseman Matt Niskanen, who spent the past five seasons with the Capitals and was traded to Philadelphia for defenseman Radko Gudas on June 14, will play his first game at Washington.
The Flyers are 6-2-1 in their past nine games.

Players to watch

Flyers forward Sean Couturier has no points in his past two games after having 16 points (three goals, 13 assists) in his previous 12 games.
Capitals forward Carl Hagelin has a career-high, seven-game point streak (three goals, four assists).

They said it

"Nothing. You have to still score two goals, right? When it's 699, yeah, it's going to be in my head. But right now, it's still two goals. Not a long way, but still." -- Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin on what goes through his mind as he approaches 700 NHL goals
"The important question for me is getting my team ready for Washington. I will reaffirm that we are getting in. We're going to get into the playoffs. Once we're there we'll deal with [our chances], but first we've got to get there. To get there we have to stay in the moment. We've got to focus on Washington." -- Flyers coach Alain Vigneault

Flyers projected lineup

Claude Giroux -- Sean Couturier -- Jakub Voracek
Scott Laughton -- Kevin Hayes -- Travis Konecny
James van Riemsdyk --
Morgan Frost
-- Tyler Pitlick
Michael Raffl -- Connor Bunnaman -- Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Ivan Provorov -- Matt Niskanen
Travis Sanheim -- Philippe Myers
Robert Hagg -- Justin Braun
Brian Elliott
Alex Lyon
Scratched: Shayne Gostisbehere
Injured:Nolan Patrick (migraine disorder), Carter Hart (abdominal strain), Joel Farabee (flu)

Capitals projected lineup

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

Status report

The Flyers did not hold a morning skate. Gotisbehere, who returned to the lineup in a 5-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday after missing 10 games following arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Jan. 14, skated on a fourth defense pair at practice on Friday. … Frost was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Friday and forward Andy Andreoff was assigned there. … Fehervary was recalled from Hershey of the AHL.

Stat pack

Giroux needs three points for 800 in the NHL. … The Capitals penalty kill is 29-for-32 in their past 11 games. … Philadelphia is 2-for-17 on the power play in its past five games.