Capitals at Devils preview

CAPITALS (28-14-3) at DEVILS (23-12-8)
7 p.m. ET; MSG+, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

The Devils ended a season-high six-game losing streak with a 4-1 win at the New York Islanders on Tuesday and moved into second place in the division with 54 points; they are five behind the Capitals but have two games in hand. Goalie Keith Kinkaid, who got the win against the Islanders, will make his second straight start.
Washington is coming off its five-day break. The Capitals are 6-1-0 in their past seven games. Forward Andre Burakovsky participated in the morning skate but will miss his third straight game because of illness.

Players to watch

Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin needs two assists to become the second player in franchise history to reach 500 in his NHL career; longtime linemate Nicklas Backstrom has 568. Ovechkin has 1,084 points (586 goals, 498 assists) in 966 NHL games.
Devils forward Taylor Hall has four goals and five assists during a five-game point streak.

They said it

"We had a hard practice this morning so the rust should all be off. We'll be ready to go. It'll come down to our mental decisions. The issue might be maybe overhandling the puck or creating problems that don't need to be created by moving the puck to guys who aren't open. But we'll look to keep it simple early." -- Capitals forward T.J. Oshie
"It's a big game and we're home and going into it knowing we want to chase them down for first place in the division, so this is four-point game. We haven't had a lot of success against them (in two losses this season) but hopefully that'll make us hungrier." -- Devils forward Kyle Palmieri

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Brett Connolly -- Lars Eller -- T.J. Oshie
Chandler Stephenson
-- Jay Beagle -- Alex Chiasson
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Christian Djoos -- John Carlson
Brooks Orpik --
Madison Bowey
Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched:Taylor Chorney, Travis Boyd
Injured:Andre Burakovsky (illness)

Devils projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Nico Hischier -- Jesper Bratt
Marcus Johansson -- Travis Zajac -- Drew Stafford
Miles Wood
-- Pavel Zacha -- Kyle Palmieri
Brian Gibbons -- Brian Boyle -- Stefan Noesen
Andy Greene -- Damon Severson
John Moore -- Sami Vatanen
Will Butcher -- Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
Cory Schneider
Scratched:Blake Coleman, Jimmy Hayes, Steven Santini
Injured:None

Status report

Burakovsky might return Friday against the Montreal Canadiens. ... Schneider didn't dress against the Islanders because of illness but will serve as Kinkaid's backup. The Devils assigned defenseman Mirco Mueller to Binghamton of the American Hockey League for conditioning. He hasn't played since breaking his left clavicle on Nov. 12.

Stat pack

Carlson has eight points (two goals, six assists) in the past seven games ... Vatanen will play his 300th NHL game; he needs one assist to reach 100 for his career.