Capitals at Canucks preview

CAPITALS (7-2-3) at CANUCKS (6-3-0)
10 p.m. ET; SN1, NBCSWA+, ESPN+, NHL.TV

Carlson had one assist in a 4-3 overtime loss at the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, giving him 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) during his point streak. He leads the NHL with 21 points (five goals, 16 assists) in 12 games, and is four points from tying the League record for most points by a defenseman in October, set by Al MacInnis with the Calgary Flames in 1990-91.
Rookie goalie Ilya Samsonov is expected to start for the Capitals, who are 4-0-1 in their past five games, after Braden Holtby made 37 saves in the loss to Edmonton.
Jacob Markstrom will make his third straight start in goal for the Canucks, who are 6-1-0 in their past seven games after an 0-2-0 start.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has 13 points (eight goals, five assists) during a nine-game point streak. He needs one goal to tie Luc Robitaille (668) for 12th place on the NHL all-time list.
Canucks forward Elias Pettersson has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in his past seven games.

They said it

"It never feels good to lose when you have a lead in the third period, but we can take a couple of minutes here to maybe reflect a little bit and then [Friday] start focusing on [the Canucks] and get jacked up to have a good start and go from there." -- Capitals forward T.J. Oshie after losing to the Oilers despite having a 3-1 third-period lead
"That forward group is as dangerous as any in the League, Carlson is having an unbelievable start and they get good goaltending. This is one of those games you look at as a coach and you are excited about it. It will be a good challenge." -- Vancouver Canucks coach Travis Green

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 -- Chandler Stephenson
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Nick Jensen
Jonas Siegenthaler -- Radko Gudas
Ilya Samsonov
Braden Holtby
Scratched:Tyler Lewington, Travis Boyd
Injured:Richard Panik (upper body)

Canucks projected lineup

J.T. Miller -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Micheal Ferland -- Bo Horvat -- Jake Virtanen
Tanner Pearson -- Brandon Sutter -- Josh Leivo
Tim Schaller -- Jay Beagle -- Tyler Motte
Alexander Edler -- Tyler Myers
Quinn Hughes -- Chris Tanev
Jordie Benn -- Troy Stecher
Jacob Markstrom
Thatcher Demko
Scratched:Loui Eriksson, Oscar Fantenberg
Injured:Antoine Roussel (knee)

Status report

The Capitals did not have a morning skate. … Fantenberg returned to practice Thursday after missing Vancouver's four-game road trip because of illness.

Stat pack

Oshie has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past six games. Wilson has three points (two goals, one assist) during a three-game point streak. … Horvat has four goals in the past two games. Markstrom is 4-0-0 with a .944 save percentage in his past four starts. Hughes has an assist on each of the three power-play goals the Canucks scored in the two games since he was moved onto the top unit.