Capitals at Sharks preview

CAPITALS (37-23-7) AT SHARKS (36-22-9)
4 p.m. ET; NBCSWA, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

Ovechkin has 598 goals and a League-leading 40 this season. However, the 32-year-old forward has no points in Washington's past two games, a 4-0 loss at the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday and a 3-1 loss at the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. He scored No. 598 last Saturday in a 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2018 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series in Annapolis, Maryland.
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer is expected to make his second straight start for the Capitals, who are second in the Metropolitan Division with 81 points, one behind the Pittsburgh Penguins and two ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Sharks, coming off a 2-0 win against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, are second in the Pacific Division with 81 points, one ahead of Anaheim and two ahead of Los Angeles. They are 3-1-0 after four games of a six-game homestand.
Goaltender Martin Jones, coming off a 16-save shutout in a 2-0 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, will likely start his seventh straight game.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past six games.
Sharks forward Mikkel Boedker has 10 points (six goals, four assists) in his past 10 games.

They said it

"It's been a good little homestand. We need to continue to get better here. The games are just going to keep getting tougher and tougher down the stretch." -- Sharks goaltender Martin Jones
"It's not coming easy for us right now. I think we all know that. We just got to find a way to push through and get it back and get our mojo back. We know we can put it together." -- Capitals forward Brett Connolly

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- T.J. Oshie
Brett Connolly -- Lars Eller -- Andre Burakovsky
Chandler Stephenson -- Jay Beagle -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik -- Christian Djoos
Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched: Madison Bowey, Jakub Jerabek, Alex Chiasson, Travis Boyd](https://www.nhl.com/player/travis-boyd-8476329)
Injured: None

Sharks projected lineup

Evander Kane -- Joe Pavelski -- Joonas Donskoi
Tomas Hertl -- Logan Couture -- Mikkel Boedker
Timo Meier -- Chris Tierney -- Kevin Labanc
Barclay Goodrow -- Eric Fehr -- Melker Karlsson
Joakim Ryan -- Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon -- Dylan DeMelo
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Tim Heed, Paul Martin, Jannik Hansen, Marcus Sorensen
Injured: Joe Thornton (knee), Joel Ward (shoulder)

S tatus report

Wilson, who was hit in the face with a puck Thursday, had a maintenance day Friday. … Karlsson (lower body) practiced for a second straight day after missing the game against St. Louis and will likely return.

Stat pack

The Capitals have lost seven straight games in California (0-6-1) ... Pavelski has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past four games.