Capitals at Panthers

CAPITALS (5-1-3) at PANTHERS (8-0-1)

Capitals projected lineup
Alex Ovechkin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Anthony Mantha -- Connor McMichael -- Daniel Sprong
Carl Hagelin -- Lars Eller -- Garnet Hathaway
Brett Leason -- Nic Dowd -- Conor Sheary
Martin Fehervary -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Nick Jensen
Trevor van Riemsdyk -- Justin Schultz
Ilya Samsonov
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Dennis Cholowski, Matt Irwin, Aliaksei Protas, Hendrix Lapierre
Injured: Nicklas Backstrom (hip), T.J. Oshie (lower body)
Panthers projected lineup
Carter Verhaeghe -- Aleksander Barkov -- Anthony Duclair
Jonathan Huberdeau -- Sam Reinhart -- Owen Tippett
Mason Marchment -- Anton Lundell --
Maxim Mamin
Frank Vatrano -- Eetu Luostarinen -- Patric Hornqvist
MacKenzie Weegar -- Aaron Ekblad
Gustav Forsling -- Brandon Montour
Kevin Connauton --
Chase Priskie
Sergei Bobrovsky
Spencer Knight
Scratched: Ryan Lomberg
Injured: Sam Bennett (upper body), Markus Nutivaara (undisclosed), Olli Juolevi (undisclosed), Radko Gudas (undisclosed), Joe Thornton (undisclosed)
Status report
The Capitals did not hold a morning skate Thursday. … Dowd is expected to return after missing a 3-2 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday because of a lower-body injury. ... Priskie, a native of Pembroke Pines, Florida, will make his NHL debut. … Lundell will return after missing four games with an upper-body injury. … Mamin will play his first NHL game since Nov. 17, 2018 after playing the past three seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League.