Capitals at Blue Jackets preview

CAPITALS (24-5-5) at BLUE JACKETS (12-14-6)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, FS-O, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

Washington previously won five straight road games from Oct. 25 to Nov. 16. The Capitals record is six straight, done twice: Feb. 20-March 15, 2011, and Feb. 26-April 1, 1984.
The Capitals are 8-1-0 in their past nine games.
Columbus will try to extend its three-game point streak (1-0-2) without forwards Josh Anderson and Sonny Milano, and defenseman Ryan Murray. Each was injured during a 4-3 overtime loss at the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin needs one power-play goal to pass Teemu Selanne (255) for third place in NHL history.
Blue Jackets forward Alexandre Texier has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past six games.

They said it

"I expect a dangerous opponent tonight in terms of some guys we don't know and it's going to rely on our ability to execute vs. their pressure." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden on the Blue Jackets
"It's been a while since I've played here as the home team. I'm excited for the cannon and hopefully we can hear it a bunch of times tonight." -- Blue Jackets forward Marko Dano on playing his first game in Nationwide Arena for the Blue Jackets since April 10, 2015

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin -- Lars Eller -- Richard Panik
Brendan Leipsic - Travis Boyd -- Garnet Hathaway
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Nick Jensen
Jonas Siegenthaler -- Radko Gudas
Braden Holtby
Ilya Samsonov
Scratched:Nic Dowd
Injured: None

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Alexandre Texier -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Eric Robinson
Gustav Nyquist -- Boone Jenner -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Nick Foligno -- Alex Wennberg -- Cam Atkinson
Marko Dano -- Riley Nash --
Kevin Stenlund
Dean Kukan -- Seth Jones
Vladislav Gavrikov -- David Savard
Scott Harrington -- Andrew Peeke
Joonas Korpisalo
Elvis Merzlikins
Scratched:None
Injured: Brandon Dubinsky (wrist), Emil Bemstrom (rib), Markus Nutivaara (upper body), Kole Sherwood (oblique), Zach Werenski (shoulder), Ryan Murray (upper body), Sonny Milano (upper body), Josh Anderson (upper body)

Status report

Boyd replaces Dowd in the lineup. … The Blue Jackets recalled Dano and Stenlund from Cleveland of the American Hockey League on Sunday. They will make their NHL season debuts. ... Harrington replaces Murray in the lineup.

Stat pack

Kuznetsov has four points (one goal, three assists) in a four-game point streak. ... Backstrom five points (two goals, three assists) during a three-game point streak. Carlson has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past seven games. … Tortorella needs one win to pass Darryl Sutter (634) for 15th place among NHL coaches. ... Robinson has three assists in the past three games. ...The Blue Jackets are 0-for-18 on the power play in their past five games.