Capitals at Flyers preview

CAPITALS (41-22-7) at FLYERS (34-27-8)
7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSP, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

It will be the 20-year-old rookie goalie's first start since sustaining an ankle injury Feb. 21. In 12 games prior to the injury, Hart was 10-2-0 with a 2.76 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.
The Flyers, who have won two straight and are 6-1-1 in their past eight games, are five points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Capitals, who have a two-point lead on the New York Islanders for first place in the Metropolitan Division, are 7-1-0 in their past eight games and 13-4-1 in their past 18. Washington has not lost consecutive games since a seven-game losing streak (0-5-2) from Jan. 12-23.

Players to watch

Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom has six points (three goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak.
Flyers center Sean Couturier has six points (three goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak.

They said it

"I think a lot of games this year we haven't started very well, maybe we haven't been hungry from the start. Then once we got down one or two, then it's, 'OK now we're getting angry, now we're playing desperate, now we're playing with the emotion we need to have.' The last two or three games we've been having that emotion from the start, and that's what we need to have again tonight. Just not waiting a period or 10 minutes or to get scored on to have that emotion." -- Capitals center Lars Eller
"This is probably as close to being in the playoffs as actually being in. They're all Game 7s, really. Or pretty close to it." -- Flyers coach Scott Gordon

Capitals projected lineup

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

Flyers projected lineup

Oskar Lindblom -- Sean Couturier -- Claude Giroux
James van Riemsdyk -- Nolan Patrick -- Travis Konecny
Michael Raffl -- Scott Laughton -- Ryan Hartman
Phil Varone -- Corban Knight --
Justin Bailey
Ivan Provorov -- Travis Sanheim
Shayne Gostisbehere -- Philippe Myers
Robert Hagg -- Radko Gudas
Carter Hart
Brian Elliott
Scratched: Samuel Morin, Cam Talbot, Andrew MacDonald
Injured: Michal Neuvirth (lower body)
Suspended:Jakub Voracek

Status report

Stephenson, who had been scratched the previous eight games, will replace Dowd in the lineup. … Bailey was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Thursday. … Voracek will serve the second of his two-game suspension for interference against Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk in a 5-2 win on Saturday.

Stat pack

Ovechkin has 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in his past 13 games and is three goals from tying Brendan Shanahan (656) for 13th in NHL history.