Capitals at Flyers preview

CAPITALS (30-9-5) at FLYERS (22-15-6)
7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN

Ovechkin scored two goals in a 6-1 win against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, tying him with Selanne with 684. Ovechkin has scored 34 goals in 54 career games against the Flyers.
Washington has won three straight games, is 14-5-0 in its past 19 and leads the NHL with 65 points, four more than the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues
The Flyers return home after going 1-4-1 during a six-game road trip. They lost 5-4 in overtime to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Tuesday.

Players to watch

Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov has eight points (four goals, four assists) during a six-game point streak.
Flyers center Sean Couturier has five points (two goals, three assists) during a three-game point streak and 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his past 11.

They said it

"I think that helps a little bit obviously on a back to back. You don't want a night where you have to rely on [Nicklas Backstrom's] line too heavily where they get over the 20-minute mark and set them back for tomorrow night or the game after that. It was nice to keep the shifts pretty balanced and everyone should be as fresh as you can get for a back to back in Philly." -- Capitals forward T.J. Oshie
"All the tough traveling is behind us now. We've got to focus on taking it up a notch for the second half of the season. Back to backs are never easy, especially when you have to travel. But (the Capitals) are the best team in the League for a reason. It's good to go home." -- Flyers forward Jakub Voracek

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
Jonas Siegenthaler -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Nick Jensen
Michal Kempny -- Radko Gudas
Braden Holtby
Ilya Samsonov
Scratched:Travis Boyd
Injured:Christian Djoos (upper body)

Flyers projected lineup

Claude Giroux -- Sean Couturier -- Travis Konecny
James van Riemsdyk -- Kevin Hayes -- Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Tyler Pitlick -- Michael Raffl -- Jakub Voracek
Scott Laughton -- Mikhail Vorobyev -- Joel Farabee
Ivan Provorov -- Matt Niskanen
Travis Sanheim -- Philippe Myers
Robert Hagg --
Mark Friedman
Carter Hart
Brian Elliott
Scratched:Chris Stewart
Injured:Nolan Patrick(migraine disorder), Oskar Lindblom (Ewing's sarcoma), Justin Braun (groin), Shayne Gostisbehere (knee)

Status report

Neither team held a morning skate after each played Tuesday. ... Capitals coach Todd Reirden said Tuesday that Holtby would start after Samsonov made 26 saves against the Senators. ... Hart is expected to start after Elliott made 28 saves against the Hurricanes. ... Gostisbehere had an MRI on Wednesday and won't play. Friedman, who was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, will take his place in the lineup. ... Forward Andy Andreoff was sent to the AHL.

Stat pack

Oshie has six points (three goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak. ... Hart is 11-1-2 with a 1.49 goals-against average and .947 save percentage in 14 home games. He's 2-9-1 with a 4.01 GAA and .850 save percentage in 15 road games.