Capitals at Lightning preview

CAPITALS (46-24-8) at LIGHTNING (59-14-4)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SUN, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

Washington has won three straight and leads the Metropolitan Division by three points over the New York Islanders with four games to play. The Capitals have already clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Tampa Bay has clinched the Presidents' Trophy and home ice through the playoffs. The Lightning, who have won eight of their past nine games, will be presented with the Presidents' Trophy before the game.
This is the third meeting between the Lightning and Capitals in the past 12 days. The Lightning won the first two.

Players to Watch

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin needs one goal for 50 and would become the third-oldest player (33) in NHL history to accomplish the feat behind Johnny Bucyk (35) and Jaromir Jagr (34).
Lightning captain Steven Stamkos has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in a five-game point streak.

They said it

"I don't think you can change much at the end of the year, right? I feel like with teams like this playing it's all about who will score more. I would love to have an open game, you know, play some hockey and see some great combinations and some terrific 5-on-5. A high compete level game."-- Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov
"It's tough when you play a team three games, in maybe 10 days or 11 days or something like that. I think we found out a little bit each other. That, you know, we both got pretty good and quite frankly they're pretty good hockey games. They are entertaining games. Do I take it as any more than that? Not really." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin -- Lars Eller -- Andre Burakovsky
Travis Boyd -- Nic Dowd -- Chandler Stephenson
Matt Niskanen -- Dmitry Orlov
Christian Djoos -- John Carlson
Nick Jensen -- Brooks Orpik
Braden Holtby
Pheonix Copley
Scratched:Dmitrij Jaskin, Jonas Siegenthaler
Injured:Brett Connolly (illness), Michal Kempny (lower body)

Lightning projected lineup

Tyler Johnson -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat -- Steven Stamkos -- J.T. Miller
Alex Killorn -- Anthony Cirelli -- Mathieu Joseph
Adam Erne -- Cedric Paquette -- Yanni Gourde
Victor Hedman -- Mikhail Sergachev
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Braydon Coburn -- Jan Rutta
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Louis Domingue
Scratched:Cameron Gaunce, Ryan Callahan, Danick Martel
Injured: Anton Stralman (lower body), Dan Girardi (lower body)

Status report

Stralman was on the ice for morning skate and practice Friday. He is likely to return to the lineup next week. …Connolly is expected to be out of the lineup with an illness. …Gourde is back in the lineup after a two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal on March 21.

Stat pack

Kucherov has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in the past nine games. …Ovechkin has 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) in the past 10 games. …Vasilevskiy is 17-2-2 with a .933 save percentage and three shutouts in the past 21 starts. …Kuznetsov has nine points (three points, six assists) in the past eight games.