Capitals at Red Wings preview

CAPITALS (18-4-5) at RED WINGS (7-18-3)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, FS-D, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

The Capitals, tied with the Boston Bruins for most points in the NHL (41), have won consecutive games and are 11-2-2 in their past 15.
Captain Alex Ovechkin's next power-play goal will be the 256th of his NHL career and move him past Teemu Selanne for sole possession of third place on the League all-time list.
The Red Wings, who have lost six straight and are winless in eight straight (0-6-2), have been outscored 19-2 in their past four games, with one goal in their past three.

Players to watch

Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov has 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in his past 12 games.
Red Wings center Dylan Larkin hasn't scored a goal during Detroit's winless streak and has gone seven games without a point. He has six goals in 28 games after scoring an NHL career-high 32 goals last season.

They said it

"It's looking more and more like that's our identity here, is our ability to stay composed and not panic, and even get better through adversity. … It's one of those things that's great to have right now and we want to make sure we keep it that way." -- Capitals goalie Braden Holtby after Washington rallied for a 4-3 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday
"This is our job, and we have to take pride in it. We know we have to be a lot better than this, and we need to keep working on that. This is unacceptable. We're working hard, but we're still stuck in the same situation. We can't make excuses, because this isn't OK by any stretch of the imagination." -- Red Wings forward Luke Glendening

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Lars Eller -- T.J. Oshie
Richard Panik -- Chandler Stephenson -- Travis Boyd
Brendan Leipsic -- Nic Dowd -- Garnet Hathaway
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Nick Jensen
Jonas Siegenthaler -- Radko Gudas
Ilya Samsonov
Braden Holtby
Scratched: Christian Djoos, Beck Malenstyn
Injured: Nicklas Backstrom (upper body), Carl Hagelin (upper body)

Red Wings projected lineup

Tyler Bertuzzi -- Dylan Larkin -- Luke Glendening
Robby Fabbri -- Valtteri Filppula -- Andreas Athanasiou
Filip Zadina -- Frans Nielsen -- Darren Helm
Brendan Perlini -- Christoffer Ehn -- Adam Erne
Madison Bowey -- Filip Hronek
Mike Green -- Dennis Cholowski
Dylan McIlrath -- Alex Biega
Jonathan Bernier
Calvin Pickard
Scratched: Justin Abdelkader, Taro Hirose, Jonathan Ericsson
Injured: Danny DeKeyser (lower body), Trevor Daley (lower body), Anthony Mantha (lower body), Jimmy Howard (lower body), Patrik Nemeth (undisclosed)

Status report

Backstrom was scheduled to take part in the morning skate Saturday but is not ready to return. … With Mantha still unavailable, Glendening moved to the first line in a 6-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday, with Fabbri dropping back to his usual spot on the second line.

Stat pack

Vrana has four points (two goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak. … Fabbri's first-period goal Friday marked the only time Detroit has scored in its past three games.