Capitals at Rangers preview

CAPITALS (37-21-7) at RANGERS (27-27-10)
12:30 p.m. ET; NBC, TVAS

The Capitals, 5-1-0 in their past six games and 9-3-1 in their past 13, are tied in points (81) with the New York Islanders for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Alexandar Georgiev
will start for the Rangers, who have lost three straight (0-1-2) and are 5-6-3 in their past 14 games. They are 13 points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Washington is 3-0-0 against New York this season, winning the three games by a total of four goals.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in an eight-game point streak and is three points shy of 1,200 in the NHL.
Rangers forward Vladislav Namestnikov has four points (two goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak and eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past eight games.

They said it

"We know in the playoffs, everything gets faster and tougher and more physical and that's what we are trying to focus on these last couple of games to bring that kind of game before the playoffs." -- Capitals forward Jakub Vrana
"That's all you can ask for in a hockey team, especially when it's had an adversity-filled season, and it's really good to see there is a lot of resilience in this group and that's going to pay off in the next few years for this group." -- Rangers forward Brendan Lemieux on New York's ability to come back in games

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky -- Lars Eller -- Brett Connolly
Carl Hagelin -- Nic Dowd -- Travis Boyd
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik -- Nick Jensen
Braden Holtby
Pheonix Copley
Scratched: Dmitrij Jaskin, Chandler Stephenson, Christian Djoos
Injured: None

Rangers projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Jimmy Vesey
Vladislav Namestnikov -- Ryan Strome -- Jesper Fast
Brendan Lemieux -- Lias Andersson -- Pavel Buchnevich
Brendan Smith -- Brett Howden -- Filip Chytil
Marc Staal -- Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Libor Hajek -- Neal Pionk

Alexandar Georgiev
Henrik Lundqvist
Scratched: , Fredrik Claesson, Connor Brickley, Boo Nieves
Injured: None

Status report

Howden returns after missing the past 15 games with an MCL sprain. ... Chytil will play, replacing Nieves in the lineup. ... Smith is expected to play in his 400th NHL game.

Stat pack

Oshie has five points (three goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak. … Washington plays six of its next eight on the road. … Zibanejad has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past four games and is two points shy of 300 in the NHL.