Capitals at Sabres preview

CAPITALS (33-18-7) at SABRES (17-31-11)
3 p.m. ET; SN1, MSG-B, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

Washington has lost three of its past four games (1-1-2) and is coming off a 7-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. The Capitals are in second place in the Metropolitan Division, one point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Sabres have lost three of their past four games (1-2-1) and six of their past nine (3-4-2).
Goalie Chad Johnson is likely to start for the Sabres. Robin Lehner is day to day with a lower-body injury and Linus Ullmark was recalled from Rochester of the American Hockey League.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past four games and 28 (11 goals, 17 assists) in his past 20. He's eight goals from 600 in the NHL.
Sabres forward Sam Reinhart has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past seven games and 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in his past 12.

They said it

"As a coach, I was extremely disappointed in our group performance… I do know the group and I do know what they're capable of in terms of responses. Hopefully we have a real good response [Monday] and follow that up and go consistently down the road here a little bit." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz
"Passion and emotion is a great tool. We have to have more emotion; I think we have to play with more passion. I just think we have to control what we can control. That's how we prepare individually, as a group, as a coaching staff to get ready to play." -- Sabres coach Phil Housley

Capitals projected lineup

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

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Sabres projected lineup

Evander Kane -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Sam Reinhart
Benoit Pouliot -- Evan Rodrigues -- Kyle Okposo
Scott Wilson -- Johan Larsson -- Jason Pominville
Zemgus Girgensons -- Jacob Josefson -- Nicholas Baptiste
Marco Scandella -- Casey Nelson
Nathan Beaulieu -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Justin Falk -- Victor Antipin
Chad Johnson
Linus Ullmark
Scratched:Josh Gorges, Jordan Nolan
Injured:Jack Eichel (high ankle sprain), Jake McCabe (thumb), Zach Bogosian (hip), Robin Lehner (lower body)

Status report

Vrana skated on the second line at practice Sunday after he was a healthy scratch against Chicago.

Stat pack

Kuznetsov has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in his past 10 games. … The Sabres have scored four or more goals in four of their past six games.