Capitals at Flyers preview

CAPITALS (41-23-7) at FLYERS (36-25-11)
5 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSP, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

Washington, which has won four in a row, is first in the Metropolitan with 89 points, two ahead of the second-place Pittsburgh Penguins.
Philadelphia won 4-2 against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday for their second win in nine games (2-6-1). The Flyers are third in the Metropolitan Division with 83 points, the same as the fourth-place Columbus Blue Jackets, but Philadelphia has one more regulation/overtime victory (34-33), the second tiebreaker.

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Players to watch

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in his past 17 games.
Flyers forward Claude Giroux has 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) in his past 19 games.

They said it

"I think you have to take it game by game. The bottom line is you've got to make a decision and go with it, and if your decision is that 'Goalie A' is a little hotter or you've just got a gut feeling, then you go with it and you have to live with it, good or bad." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz
"When you lose games and you can't put wins together, the negatives really start to magnify, even though there's a ton of positives that have gone on with our hockey team. It's easy to let those negatives pile on. This was a real important two points." -- Flyers coach Dave Hakstol after 4-2 win at Carolina on Saturday
Capitals projected lineup
Alex Ovechkin -- Travis Boyd -- Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Jakub Vrana -- Lars Eller -- Alex Chiasson
Chandler Stephenson -- Jay Beagle -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Christian Djoos -- John Carlson
Michal Kempny -- Jakub Jerabek
Philipp Grubauer
Braden Holtby
Scratched:Brett Connolly
Injured:Evgeny Kuznetsov (upper body), Brooks Orpik (lower body)

Flyers projected lineup

Claude Giroux -- Sean Couturier -- Michael Raffl
Oskar Lindblom -- Nolan Patrick -- Jakub Voracek
Travis Konecny -- Valtteri Filppula -- Wayne Simmonds
Jori Lehtera -- Scott Laughton -- Matt Read
Ivan Provorov -- Shayne Gostisbehere
Travis Sanheim -- Andrew MacDonald
Robert Hagg -- Radko Gudas
Petr Mrazek
Alex Lyon
Scratched:Jordan Weal, Dale Weise, Taylor Leier, Brandon Manning
Injured:Brian Elliott (lower body), Michal Neuvirth (lower body), Johnny Oduya (upper body)

Status report

Kuznetsov is day to day after leaving a 6-3 win against the New York Islanders on Friday with six seconds left in the second period. ... Orpik is also day to day. … Mrazek will start after Lyon made 23 saves against the Hurricanes. ... Hagg returns after missing four games because of a lower-body injury. He'll replace Manning in the lineup.

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Stat pack

Voracek has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past seven games. … Carlson has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in his past 10 games.