Capitals at Senators preview

CAPITALS (21-10-3) at SENATORS (15-17-4)
7 p.m. ET; SN360, CITY, TVAS, NBCSWA+, NHL.TV

Ovechkin can join Mike Gartner, who had at least 30 goals in his first 15 NHL seasons. Ovechkin leads the League with 29 goals, and has 10 goals in his past eight games.
The Capitals are 6-1-0 in their past seven games, 13-3-0 in their past 16, and have scored at least four goals in nine of their past 12.
Washington and Ottawa are each playing the second half of a back-to-back. The Capitals defeated the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 on Friday, and the Senators lost 5-2 to the New Jersey Devils.
Ottawa is 3-5-1 and has scored two goals or fewer in seven of its past nine games.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom has 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in his past 16 games.
Senators forward Mark Stone has five points (one goal, four assists) during a four-game point streak.

They said it

"At the start of the year we had a short summer, weird schedule, all of those sorts of things, and it wasn't exactly all there. But we had to kick it into gear there early in November, and we know it starts in the [defensive] zone."-- Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly
"It's a good chance for redemption, right? You don't want to sit on a game like this and have it fester; you want to come back right away and try to redeem yourself." -- Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki following a 5-2 loss in New Jersey on Friday

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky -- Lars Eller -- Brett Connolly
Chandler Stephenson -- Nic Dowd -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Jonas Siegenthaler -- Madison Bowey
Pheonix Copley
Braden Holtby
Scratched: Dmitrij Jaskin, Travis Boyd, Tyler Lewington
Injured: Christian Djoos (leg), Brooks Orpik (knee)

Senators projected lineup

Brady Tkachuk -- Colin White -- Mark Stone
Chris Tierney -- Matt Duchene -- Mikkel Boedker
Ryan Dzingel -- Zack Smith -- Bobby Ryan
Tom Pyatt --
Nick Paul
-- Magnus Paajarvi
Thomas Chabot -- Dylan DeMelo
Max Lajoie -- Cody Ceci
Mark Borowiecki
-- Christian Jaros
Craig Anderson
Mike McKenna
Scratched:Justin Falk, Ben Harpur
Injured:Jean-Gabriel Pageau (Achilles)

Status report

Neither team held a morning skate.

Stat pack

Ovechkin is four goals from tying Dave Andreychuk (640) for 14th on the NHL's all-time list. … Orlov will play his 400th NHL game. … Duchene needs two assists for 300 in the NHL.