Blues at Capitals preview

BLUES (19-20-4) at CAPITALS (27-12-5)
7 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, SNP, NBCSWA, FS-MW, NHL.TV

The 38-year-old defenseman, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, is in his 16th NHL season, and fifth with the Capitals.
Washington goalie Braden Holtby will dress after leaving the Capitals 2-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday when he was poked in the left eye with a stick. He'll back up Pheonix Copley, who starts against his former team.
Washington is 3-0-1 in its past four games after a three-game losing streak (0-2-1).
Jake Allen starts in goal for the Blues with Jordan Binnington, the NHL's Second Star for the week ending Jan. 13, the back up.

Players to watch

Blues forward David Perron has four goals and nine assists in a 10-game point streak.
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin needs one goal to tie Dave Andreychuk (640) for 14th place on the NHL all-time list, and one power-play goal to pass Brendan Shanahan (237) for sole possession of sixth place on the all-time list. He has two goals and two assists in his past four games.

They said it

"I think we've been consistently inconsistent. We hadn't had a lot of big, long losing streaks or anything like that, but I think the most we've won all year is two in a row. Obviously, in the position we're in, we're going to have to find a way to put more together." -- Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester
"He's been an important leader for us since he got here and part of the reason why we've had success the last few years. Brooksie's a great man, he's been a good player for a long time, a great role model. Everybody loves Brooksie." -- Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen on Orpik

Blues projected lineup

Zach Sanford -- Ryan O'Reilly -- David Perron
Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Pat Maroon -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Jordan Kyrou
Jordan Nolan -- Ivan Barbashev -- Sammy Blais
Joel Edmundson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Jordan Binnington
Scratched: Mackenzie MacEachern, Robby Fabbri
Injured: Tyler Bozak (upper body), Alexander Steen (shoulder), Robert Thomas (upper body), Carl Gunnarsson (illness)

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Brett Connolly -- Lars Eller -- Travis Boyd
Chandler Stephenson -- Andre Burakovsky -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Brooks Orpik -- Madison Bowey
Pheonix Copley
Braden Holtby
Scratched: Nic Dowd, Jonas Siegenthaler, Dmitrij Jaskin
Injured: Christian Djoos (thigh)

Status report

The Blues recalled forwards Kyrou and Nolan from San Antonio of the American Hockey League. … Capitals coach Todd Reirden said if things continue moving in the right direction, Holtby will start Tuesday at the Nashville Predators.

Stat pack

O'Reilly has three goals and five assists in his past eight games. … Oshie has two goals and two assists in his past four games.