Capitals at Maple Leafs preview

CAPITALS (8-2-3) at MAPLE LEAFS (6-5-2)
7 p.m. ET; TSN4, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

Goalie Braden Holtby will start for Washington, which is 5-0-1 in its past six games and 3-0-1 in the first four games of a five-game road trip.
Defenseman
Travis Dermott
will make his season debut for the Maple Leafs after missing the first 13 games recovering from shoulder surgery May 10. The 22-year-old was injured Feb. 27 but returned for the final four regular-season games and seven Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Goalie Frederik Andersen will start for Toronto, which is 2-3-1 in its past six games.

Players to watch

Capitals defenseman John Carlson leads NHL players at the position in scoring with 21 points (five goals, 16 assists) and had a nine-game point streak (18 points; five goals, 13 assists) end in a 6-5 overtime win at the Vancouver Canucks on Friday.
Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Muzzin has scored a goal in each of his past two games and has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past six games.

They said it

"What he's done is phenomenal and he's a huge reason why our team is where we are right now in the standings. … He was asked to take on a bigger leadership role and take on more responsibility of being a real veteran back there and he's done a phenomenal job." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden on defenseman John Carlson
"It's been way too long. I think it's the longest I've been away from the game so being cleared medically, it's what I've been thinking and dreaming about for the last six months, so it's really exciting." -- Maple Leafs defenseman Travis Dermott

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Lars Eller -- Garnet Hathaway
Brendan Leipsic -- Nic Dowd -- Travis Boyd
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Nick Jensen
Jonas Siegenthaler -- Radko Gudas
Braden Holtby
Ilya Samsonov
Scratched: Tyler Lewington, Chandler Stephenson
Injured: Richard Panik (upper body)

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Andreas Johnsson -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Ilya Mikheyev -- Alex Kerfoot -- Mitchell Marner
Trevor Moore -- Jason Spezza -- Kasperi Kapanen
Dmytro Timashov -- Nicholas Shore -- Frederik Gauthier
Morgan Rielly -- Cody Ceci
Jake Muzzin -- Tyson Barrie
Travis Dermott -- Justin Holl
Frederik Andersen
Michael Hutchinson
Scratched: Nic Petan, Martin Marincin, Kevin Gravel
Injured: John Tavares (broken finger), Zach Hyman (ACL)

Status report

The Capitals will use the same forwards and defensemen they did against the Canucks. … Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said he does not have a timeline on when Tavares or Hyman will return but said he expects Tavares to return first.

Stat pack

Ovechkin has 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in his past 10 games. … Kempny has five points (three goals, two assists) in his first five games this season. … Marner has six assists in his past five games. … Matthews has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past five games.