Preview: Capitals at Hurricanes

CAPITALS (18-7-3) at HURRICANES (12-11-6)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-CR, CSN-DC+, NHL.TV

Capitals team scope

Philipp Grubauer will start in goal when the Washington Capitals look for their sixth straight win. Coach Barry Trotz said he made the goaltending decision partly based on Grubauer's previous start against the Carolina Hurricanes, a 5-1 loss in Raleigh on Nov. 12. "We turned way too many pucks over, especially on the back end," Trotz said. "We sort of left him to the wolves. His teammates admire him for his work ethic. Hopefully the guys will respond. We've got a good leadership group that usually gets that message out." The Capitals have scored a power-play goal in five of the past six games. They are 11-1-1 when scoring with the man-advantage.

Hurricanes team scope

The Hurricanes have won seven straight games at home, a streak that started with a 5-1 win against the Capitals on Nov. 12. "They play a very structured game, a very intelligent game," Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said of the Capitals after practice Thursday. "The neutral zone is going to be the key. We've got to be able to get through it and we've got to be able to slow them down through the neutral zone." Cam Ward, who is 5-0-0 with a 1.29 goals-against average in five home games during the winning streak, will start in goal. The Hurricanes have outscored their opponents 24-12 during the streak and killed 17 of 18 power plays.

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Justin Williams
Marcus Johansson -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Brett Connolly -- Lars Eller -- Jakub Vrana
Daniel Winnik -- Jay Beagle -- Tom Wilson
Karl Alzner -- John Carlson
Matt Niskanen -- Dmitry Orlov
Brooks Orpik -- Nate Schmidt
Philipp Grubauer
Braden Holtby
Scratched:Andre Burakovsky, Taylor Chorney
Injured: None

Hurricanes projected lineup

Joakim Nordstrom - Jordan Staal - Elias Lindholm
Jeff Skinner - Victor Rask - Derek Ryan
Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen - Lee Stempniak
Brock McGinn - Jay McClement - Victor Stalberg
Jaccob Slavin - Brett Pesce
Ron Hainsey - Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin - Matt Tennyson
Cam Ward
Michael Leighton
Scratched:Andrej Nestrasil, Ryan Murphy
Injured: Eddie Lack (concussion), Bryan Bickell (illness)

Status report

Burakovsky will be a healthy scratch for the second straight game. "There's no time frame," Trotz said. "He's got to work on his game. He's going to get a chance to reset and watch from [the press box]."... The Hurricanes did not hold a morning skate Friday.

Who's hot

Niskanen scored his first two goals of the season in a 4-2 win against the New York Islanders on Tuesday. Kuznetsov has seven assists in the past five games. Johansson has five goals and nine points in the past nine games. ... Ryan has four goals and 10 points in the past nine games. Rask has one goal and six points in the past three games.