Sharks at Capitals preview
San Jose is 3-1-1 in past five; Kuznetsov game-time decision for Washington
by Harvey Valentine / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
SHARKS (19-21-3) at CAPITALS (28-9-5)
12:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN, TVAS, NBCSWA, NBCSCA, NHL.TV
The Game
Evgeny Kuznetsov will be a game-time decision for the Washington Capitals when they host the San Jose Sharks at Capital One Arena on Sunday.
Kuznetsov, who had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday, did not practice Saturday because of an illness. Washington has lost three of its past five games after winning four of its previous five.
San Jose, which ended the Columbus Blue Jackets' 12-game point streak with a 3-2 victory on Saturday, is 3-1-1 in its past five games after going 1-8-1 in its previous 10.
Players to watch
Sharks forward Joe Thornton has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past five games.
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has five points (two goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak and needs two goals to tie Teemu Selanne (684) for 11th place in NHL history.
They said it
"I just the like way we're playing as a 20-man unit. We're all on the same page and we're doing some good things. We're managing our game. It's a little bit of a more mature game lately and we're giving ourselves a chance to win every night, which is the most important thing." -- Sharks coach Bob Boughner
"It'll be a real important thing or us to play with speed and some edge to our game, a heavy game that involves some physical contact. We've got to make sure we're getting in on this defense and forcing them to go 200 feet to get offense. We can't allow [Erik] Karlsson and [Brent] Burns to be joining every rush and not ever touch them. They're a major part of their team, and the forecheck will be key for us on Sunday." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden
Sharks projected lineup
Tomas Hertl -- Logan Couture -- Patrick Marleau
Evander Kane -- Barclay Goodrow -- Timo Meier
Marcus Sorensen -- Joe Thornton -- Kevin Labanc
Melker Karlsson -- Joel Kellman -- Stefan Noesen
Brenden Dillon -- Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Erik Karlsson
Radim Simek -- Mario Ferraro
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Tim Heed, Joachim Blichfeld, Antti Suomela
Injured: Dalton Prout (upper body)
Capitals projected lineup
Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Lars Eller -- T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin -- Travis Boyd -- 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: None
Injured: Christian Djoos (upper body), Evgeny Kuznetsov (illness)
Stat pack
San Jose went 0-for-1 on the power play against Columbus and is 3-for-52 (5.8 percent) since Nov. 19 (22 games). … All 16 of Vrana's goals this season have come at even strength. … Backstrom has an assist in each of his past four games.