Capitals at Jets preview

CAPITALS (32-17-6) at JETS (32-15-9)
8 p.m. ET; TSN3, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

The Jets are coming off a 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday after losing 5-2 to the St. Louis Blues on Friday. Winnipeg is 3-2-1 on a 10-game homestand that ends against the Los Angeles Kings on Feb. 20. The Jets are two points behind the first-place Nashville Predators in the Central Division.
Goalie Connor Hellebuyck will start. He has lost his past two starts and three of his past five.
Braden Holtby will start for the Capitals, who begin a four-game road trip after a 5-4 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. Washington is in first place in the Metropolitan Division, four points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins with two games in hand.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov has two goals and eight assists during a seven-game point streak.
Jets forward Kyle Connor has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past six games.

They said it

"You look at our team in the past couple years, we have good responses typically. Lately, for the most part, we haven't been able to put a complete 60 together. We've put segments of a real good game together, but not a complete 60." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz
"It's tough to really pinpoint everything other teams are doing. We're so focused on ourselves, what we're trying to do. Obviously, we know some of the faces over there. We give these guys time and space, give them opportunities, it's going to be a tough night for us." -- Jets forward Blake Wheeler

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Tom Wilson
Brett Connolly -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky -- Lars Eller -- Alex Chiasson
Chandler Stephenson -- Jay Beagle -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Christian Djoos -- John Carlson
Brooks Orpik -- Madison Bowey
Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched:Taylor Chorney, Jakub Vrana
Injured: None

Jets projected lineup

Mathieu Perreault -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler
Patrik Laine -- Bryan Little -- Nikolaj Ehlers
Kyle Connor -- Andrew Copp -- Joel Armia
Jack Roslovic -- Matt Hendricks --
Nic Petan
Josh Morrissey -- Tyler Myers
Toby Enstrom -- Dustin Byfuglien
Ben Chiarot -- Dmitry Kulikov
Connor Hellebuyck
Eric Comrie
Scratched:Tucker Poolman, Brendan Lemieux](https://www.nhl.com/player/brendan-lemieux-8477962?season=20172018), Marko Dano
Injured:Shawn Matthias (upper body), Steve Mason (concussion), Jacob Trouba (lower body), Adam Lowry (upper body), Brandon Tanev (upper body), Michael Hutchinson (concussion)

Status report

Chiasson replaces Vrana on the third line. … The Jets will dress the same lineup that played against the Rangers. Lowry, who hasn't played since Feb. 1, has yet to resume skating.

Stat pack

Ovechkin has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past five games and 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists) in his past 17. He needs five points for 1,100 in his NHL career. Carlson has two goals and two assists during a three-game point streak and nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past nine games. … Wheeler has eight assists in his past 12 games after having 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his previous seven. He has no goals in 14 games.