Capitals at Canadiens preview

CAPITALS (43-24-7) at CANADIENS (27-36-12)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, TVAS, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

The Capitals, 6-1-0 in their past seven games, are three points ahead of the second-place Pittsburgh Penguins and four points ahead of the third-place Columbus Blue Jackets. Washington has a game in hand on each.
Forward Evgeny Kuznetsov will return to the Capitals lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury.
The Canadiens, 2-7-2 in their past 11 games, have been eliminated from playoff contention. Goaltender Carey Price will start after Antti Niemi made 35 saves in a 3-0 win at the Buffalo Sabres on Friday. It was his first shutout for Montreal.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin, who leads the NHL with 44 goals, has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past six games.
Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past seven games.

They said it

"The mentality is, we need the points. This is a game in hand that we have on a couple of rivals that we have in our division, and we have to take advantage of it." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz
"We've just got to try to keep improving ourselves and [Saturday] we've got a new chance to do that." -- Canadiens forward Artturi Lehkonen after Montreal's 3-0 win at the Buffalo Sabres on Friday

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Brett Connolly -- Lars Eller -- Jakub Vrana
Chandler Stephenson -- Jay Beagle -- Alex Chiasson
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Brooks Orpik -- Jakub Jerabek
Philipp Grubauer
Pheonix Copley
Scratched: Christian Djoos, Travis Boyd](https://www.nhl.com/player/travis-boyd-8476329), Devante Smith-Pelly, Shane Gersich
Injured:Braden Holtby (lower body)

Canadiens projected lineup

Paul Byron -- Jonathan Drouin -- Brendan Gallagher
Alex Galchenyuk -- Jacob de la Rose -- Artturi Lehkonen
Nikita Scherbak -- Logan Shaw -- Charles Hudon
Nicolas Deslauriers -- Byron Froese -- Daniel Carr
Mike Reilly -- Jeff Petry
Karl Alzner -- Noah Juulsen
Jordie Benn -- Brett Lernout
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
Scratched:Michael McCarron
Injured:Ales Hemsky (concussion-like symptoms), Max Pacioretty (knee), Victor Mete (finger), David Schlemko (upper body), Rinat Valiev (lower body), Phillip Danault (upper body), Andrew Shaw (upper body)

Status report

Holtby took part in the morning skate, and is day-to-day, Trotz said. … Gersich was on the ice after signing a two-year entry level contract Friday. … The Canadiens did not hold a morning skate.

Stat pack

Kuznetsov had 16 points (five games, 11 assists) in 10 games prior to his injury. … Carlson has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past seven games and 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in his past 13 games. … Gallagher will play in his 400th NHL game.