Capitals at Panthers preview

CAPITALS (28-15-5) at PANTHERS (19-21-6)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-F, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

Goalie James Reimer will be out at least two weeks with a pulled groin sustained 3:46 into the first period of a 6-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, coach Bob Boughner said.
The Panthers are splitting up the top-line pairing of Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau, with Huberdeau joining Vincent Trocheck and Denis Malgin. Barkov will skate with Evgenii Dadonov and Nick Bjugstad.
Florida is 2-5-1 since a season-long five-game winning streak.
The Capitals will try to avoid their first four-game losing streak of the season. Washington is 0-1-2 since returning from its five-day break, including a 2-1 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.
Forward Alex Ovechkin needs one assist to become the 15th active NHL player, and the second player in Capitals history, to reach 500; Washington forward Nicklas Backstrom has 568.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Brett Connolly has three goals in his past four games.
Huberdeau has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in his past 12 games and leads the Panthers with 46 points (16 goals, 30 assists).

They said it

"We haven't won any games in the last little while. You just have to look at the standings. We come back on the other side of the (All-Star) break here and you're going to have a whole bunch of teams staring in your face. We've got to start winning games again." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz
"It's no secret we've been looking for that right combination for most of the season with (Trocheck). Even though you don't want to separate your big guys, we need some more depth underneath that line. We've got to have secondary scoring." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Chandler Stephenson -- Lars Eller -- Brett Connolly
Jakub Vrana -- Jay Beagle -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Matt Niskanen -- Dmitry Orlov
Christian Djoos -- John Carlson
Brooks Orpik -- Madison Bowey
Scratched:Alex Chiasson, Taylor Chorney
Injured:None

Panthers projected lineup

Evgenii Dadonov -- Aleksander Barkov -- Nick Bjugstad
Jonathan Huberdeau -- Vincent Trocheck -- Denis Malgin
Jamie McGinn -- Jared McCann -- Radim Vrbata
Micheal Haley -- Derek MacKenzie -- Colton Sceviour
Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad
Mike Matheson -- Mark Pysyk
MacKenzie Weegar -- Alex Petrovic
Harri Sateri
Samuel Monteambeault
Scratched:Connor Brickley, Ian McCoshen
Injured:Roberto Luongo (lower body), James Reimer (groin)

Status report

Montembeault was recalled from Springfield of the American Hockey League and will return during the weekend. … Luongo was on the ice before the morning skate. The Panthers hope he'll start practicing next week.

Stat pack

Backstrom needs one goal to move into fifth place on the Capitals' all-time list. He's tied with Alexander Semin with 197. … Florida leads the NHL with nine shorthanded goals; Barkov leads the League with five.