Capitals at Stars preview

CAPITALS (24-12-3) at STARS (21-16-4)
8 p.m. ET; FS-SW+, NBCSWA+, NHL.TV

The Stars forward sustained the injury at 2:05 of the second period in a 5-4 win against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday but is expected to return at the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday. Benn, who played in all 82 games in three of the past four seasons, will miss his first game since March 17, 2017.
Dallas is 5-2-1 in its past eight games.
The Capitals, who lost 5-2 at the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, will try to avoid losing three straight games for the first time this season. Washington has been outscored 11-5 in consecutive defeats following a four-game winning streak.

Players to watch

Capitals goalie Pheonix Copley, who will start, has won his past five starts with a 1.97 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and one shutout.
Stars center Tyler Seguin has four points (two goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak and is one assist shy of 300 in the NHL.

They said it

"It seems that we've always found an urgency after we haven't played well on consecutive nights. Our leaders step up, and everybody else follows." -- Capitals forward Brett Connolly
"He wanted to play because he's a warrior." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery on forward Jamie Benn, out with an upper-body injury

Capitals projected lineup

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

Stars projected lineup

Valeri Nichushkin -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov
Blake Comeau -- Radek Faksa -- Tyler Pitlick
Devin Shore -- Jason Spezza -- Brett Ritchie
Mattias Janmark -- Roope Hintz -- Erik Condra
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen -- Roman Polak
Julius Honka -- Taylor Fedun
Anton Khudobin
Ben Bishop
Scratched: Connor Carrick
Injured: Jamie Benn (upper body), Stephen Johns (upper body), Marc Methot (lower body), Jason Dickinson (upper body), Martin Hanzal (back)

Status report

Nichushkin will take Benn's place on the Stars' top line alongside Seguin and Radulov. … Condra will make his Dallas debut after being recalled from Texas of the American Hockey League on Thursday. … Honka remains in the lineup after leaving in the third period against the Devils because of an upper-body injury.

Stat pack

Ovechkin played with Kuznetsov and Wilson for the first time in seven games Thursday and scored his 30th goal of the season after going without a goal in his previous six. … Washington's power play is 1-for-24 in its past eight games.