Capitals at Hurricanes preview

CAPITALS (45-24-8) at HURRICANES (42-27-7)
7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSWA, FS-CR, NHL.TV

The Capitals, who won 4-1 against the Hurricanes at Capital One Arena on Tuesday, will clinch with a victory in any fashion. Washington also can clinch by getting one point and if the game between the Montreal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena is decided in regulation regardless of who wins.
Washington, which is 11-3-1 in its past 15 games, is three points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division.
Alex Ovechkin needs one goal to become the third player in NHL history with at least eight 50-goal seasons. Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy each have nine.
The Carolina Hurricanes will try to gain in the Metropolitan Division and wild card race. They are 11-4-1 in their past 16 games and are one point ahead of Montreal and three points ahead of Columbus for the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Capitals goalie Braden Holtby is 15-6-0 with a 1.98 goals-against average, .937 save percentage and two shutouts in 21 games against the Hurricanes.
Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov has seven points (five goals, two assists) in the past eight games.

They said it

"We forced them to come the full 200 feet to create offense and that's something that will be of huge importance tonight against them. They obviously play their best hockey here and they've been on quite a run. I expect them to be extremely desperate tonight and coming after us."-- Capitals coach Todd Reirden
"You're running on adrenaline this time of year. You've got plenty of juice because these are games you relish at the start of the season, hoping you can play in them." -- Hurricanes captain Justin Williams

Capitals projected lineup

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

Hurricanes projected lineup

Nino Niederreiter -- Sebastian Aho -- Justin Williams
Andrei Svechnikov -- Jordan Staal -- Teuvo Teravainen
Micheal Ferland -- Lucas Wallmark -- Jordan Martinook
Brock McGinn -- Greg McKegg -- Warren Foegele
Jaccob Slavin -- Dougie Hamilton
Brett Pesce -- Justin Faulk
Calvin de Haan -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Curtis McElhinney
Petr Mrazek
Scratched: Saku Maenalanen
Injured: None

Status report

Oshie was not ruled out for the game but Washington coach Todd Reirden said Burakovsky will start in Oshie's spot on the second line. … Reirden said the Capitals are going through final evaluations on Kempny, but that the defenseman's injury is expected to keep him out long-term. … McElhinney and Mrazek will have alternated starts for the past seven games.

Stat pack

Kuznetsov had three assists against Carolina on Tuesday. … Staal has five points (two goals, three assists) in the past four games. Hamilton will play his 500th NHL game.