Capitals at Islanders preview

CAPITALS (32-11-5) at ISLANDERS (28-14-4)
1 p.m. ET; ESPN+, MSG+, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

The forward, who had a hat trick in a 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, has 689 goals, one fewer than Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux, who is No. 10 on the all-time list.
Ovechkin, who has five goals in his past two games, is three goals behind Steve Yzerman for ninth place and five behind Mark Messier for eighth.
The Capitals, who lead the Metropolitan Division, have won two straight and are 5-2-0 in their past seven games, will play their final game before their NHL-mandated five-day break; they don't play again until Jan. 27 at the Montreal Canadiens.
Goalie Thomas Greiss could start for the Islanders after Semyon Varlamov allowed three goals on 28 shots in a 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Thursday. The Islanders are 1-2-1 in their past four games after going 4-2-0 in their previous six.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Jakub Vrana has six goals in his past seven games after going 10 games without one.
Islanders forward Josh Bailey has scored in two straight games after going 15 games without one.

They said it

"Obviously 1 o'clock game, the starts are so important, especially against a team like the Islanders. Focus in for another day here and then the guys will have a good chance to get away from the game for a little bit." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden
"We can't look back, we've got to look forward all the time. We have a big test coming up, we got Washington obviously here and then we've got [the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday]. Those are two pretty good opponents. This is a tough stretch, a lot of divisional stuff, a lot of points on the line." -- Islanders coach Barry Trotz

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin -- Lars Eller -- Richard Panik
Brendan Leipsic -- Nic Dowd -- Garnet Hathaway
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Nick Jensen
Jonas Siegenthaler -- Radko Gudas
Braden Holtby
Ilya Samsonov
Scratched: Travis Boyd
Injured: None

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- Mathew Barzal -- Jordan Eberle
Anthony Beauvillier -- Brock Nelson -- Derick Brassard
Ross Johnston -- Josh Bailey -- Tom Kuhnhackl
Matt Martin -- Casey Cizikas -- Leo Komarov
Nick Leddy -- Ryan Pulock
Devon Toews -- Scott Mayfield
Noah Dobson -- Johnny Boychuk
Thomas Greiss
Semyon Varlamov
Scratched: Michael Dal Colle, Sebastian Aho
Injured: Adam Pelech (Achilles), Cal Clutterbuck (wrist)

Status report

Holtby will start after Samsonov started the past two games for the Capitals, Reirden said. … The Islanders sent forward Otto Koivula to Bridgeport of the American Hockey League on Friday.

Stat pack

The Capitals rank second in the NHL on the penalty kill (84.4 percent) and are tied for second (with five other teams) in shorthanded goals allowed (seven). … The Islanders were 0-for-5 on the power play against the Rangers and are 1-for-22 in their past 12 games.