Golden Knights at Capitals preview

GOLDEN KNIGHTS (1-2-0) at CAPITALS (1-0-1)
8 p.m. ET; NBCSN

The Game

The Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights meet in a rematch of last season's Stanley Cup Final at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.
The Capitals won the Cup in five games, including Games 3 and 4 in Washington before clinching their first championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 7.
The Golden Knights will be without center Paul Stastny, who sustained a lower body injury in a 4-2 loss at the Buffalo Sabres on Monday and will miss the final three games of Vegas' five-game road trip.
Washington has not played since a 7-6 overtime loss at the Pittsburgh Penguins last Thursday. Forward T.J. Oshie leads the Capitals in scoring with five points (three goals, two assists).
Vegas won each of its two regular-season games against Washington last season.

Players to watch

Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is three wins from passing Glenn Hall (407) for 10th place on the NHL all-time list. He is 22-12-2 with a 2.54 goals-against average and.914 save percentage against the Capitals.
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin needs two goals to pass Bobby Hull (610) for 17th place on the NHL's all-time list.

They said it

"Last year was awesome, the Stanley Cup was awesome, but it's all about trying to get points now; win two points for the game. I don't think there's going to be anything different than playing Washington last year. That's in the past, it's gone by and they were the better team in the Final and we move on." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant
"It was a great series for us, but not for them. I think they're a little bit angry and I think tonight is going to be a very interesting match." -- Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty -- Erik Haula -- Tomas Nosek
Ryan Carpenter -- Cody Eakin -- Oscar Lindberg
William Carrier -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Ryan Reaves
Shea Theodore -- Deryk Engelland
Brayden McNabb -- Colin Miller
Jon Merrill -- Nick Holden
Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
Scratched:Jake Bischoff, Brad Hunt
Injured: Paul Stastny (lower body), Alex Tuch (lower body)
Suspended: Nate Schmidt

Capitals projected lineup

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

Status report

Eakin, who missed three games with a lower-body injury, will make his season debut. … Kempny will play his first game this season after being out two games with a concussion. He rejoins Carlson, his regular defense partner, with Djoos moving to the third pair with Orpik.

Stat pack

Smith, who led the Golden Knights in scoring with six points (three goals, three assists) in the Cup Final, is two goals shy of 100 in the NHL. … Niskanen needs one point away for 300 in the NHL.