Canucks at Capitals preview

CANUCKS (16-20-6) at CAPITALS (26-13-3)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSW, SNP, NHL.TV

The Capitals have won nine consecutive home games, the longest streak in the NHL this season. Forward Alex Ovechkin has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in his past 10 games. His 27 goals are tied with Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov for the League lead.
The Canucks have lost a season-high four straight games (0-3-1) and are 2-10-2 since Dec. 7. They have scored two goals or fewer in nine of their past 14 games.

Players to watch

Canucks forward Brock Boeser has 15 points (nine goals, six assists) in his past 14 games. He leads NHL rookies in goals (22) and points (40), and had three assists in a 6-2 win against Washington on Oct. 26.
Capitals goalie Philipp Grubauer (2-5-3, 2.70 goals-against average, .909 save percentage) will start for the first time since Dec. 27, when he made 37 saves in a 1-0 shootout loss to the New York Rangers.

They said it

"There's no secrets. Attention to details and do the little things right. We're missing a couple of key pieces, but we've been playing well in a lot of games. It's just we haven't been able to get wins and that's been tough." -- Canucks captain Henrik Sedin on their four-game losing streak
"The puck comes off his stick like it does on [ Alex Ovechkin]. It's a bullet and it's very accurate, and he's been dangerous. He's been probably their best player start to finish so far." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz on Canucks rookie Brock Boeser

Canucks projected lineup

Daniel Sedin -- Henrik Sedin -- Brock Boeser
Thomas Vanek -- Sam Gagner -- Sven Baertschi
Markus Granlund -- Nic Dowd -- Loui Eriksson
Nikolay Goldobin -- Michael Chaput -- Jake Virtanen
Alexander Edler -- Troy Stecher
Michael Del Zotto -- Erik Gudbranson
Alex Biega -- Ben Hutton
Jacob Markstrom
Anders Nilsson
Scratched: Brendan Gaunce, Derrick Pouliot, Chris Tanev (facial injury)
Injured: Bo Horvat (broken ankle), Brandon Sutter (groin)

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Brett Connolly -- Lars Eller -- T.J. Oshie
Chandler Stephenson -- Jay Beagle -- Andre Burakovsky
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Christian Djoos -- John Carlson
Brooks Orpik -- Madison Bowey
Philipp Grubauer
Braden Holtby
Scratched:Alex Chiasson, Taylor Chorney
Injured: None

Status report

Stephenson, a healthy scratch against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday, returns to the lineup. …Tanev skated wearing a full face shield at the morning skate but won't play. … Biega returns after four games as a healthy scratch. … Sutter is not on the road trip but could join Vancouver for practice in Columbus on Wednesday.

Stat pack

Boeser has scored 20 percent of Vancouver's 110 goals, the second-highest percentage of team goals for one player behind Ovechkin, who's scored 20.9 percent of Washington's 129 goals.