Capitals at Blackhawks preview

CAPITALS (27-15-5) at BLACKHAWKS (16-24-9)
12:30 p.m. ET; NBC, TVAS

The Capitals, outscored 14-4 during their 0-3-1 skid, are trying to avoid losing five straight games for the first time since Oct. 26-Nov. 4, 2014 (0-4-1).
The Blackhawks look to avoid losing their sixth consecutive game; they're 0-3-2 in their past five games and have allowed at least four goals in each of them.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past five games. He needs one goal to pass Dave Andreychuk (640) for sole possession of 14th place on NHL all-time list and five points to tie Sergei Fedorov (1,179) for highest-scoring Russia-born player in NHL history.
Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in a seven-game point streak, five multipoint games in his past six and 28 points (12 goals, 16 assists) in his past 15 games.

They said it

"I believe that 82 games it's pretty hard to always score a lot of goals 5-on-5. It will be some ups and downs during the year and I believe that's the time when we have to go through that together and, like I said, as long as we're having chances, you have to score." -- Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov
"Positive that he was out there, but I'm not sure that it means a ton. Hopefully he continues to feel better." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton on goalie Corey Crawford, who took shots before practice Saturday for the first time since sustaining a concussion on Dec. 16

Capitals projected lineup

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

Blackhawks projected lineup

Drake Caggiula -- Jonathan Toews -- Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat -- Dylan Strome -- Dominik Kahun
Brandon Saad -- David Kampf -- Marcus Kruger
John Hayden -- Artem Anisimov -- Chris Kunitz
Duncan Keith -- Brent Seabrook
Carl Dahlstrom -- Connor Murphy
Slater Koekkoek -- Erik Gustafsson
Collin Delia
Cam Ward
Scratched: Henri Jokiharju
Injured: Corey Crawford (concussion), Gustav Forsling (upper torso), Brendan Perlini (concussion protocol)

Status report

Holtby will start his second straight game; he missed the previous two because he was poked in the eye by the stick of Columbus Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson in the second period of a 2-1 overtime loss on Jan. 12. … Forsling practiced Saturday; Perlini did not.

Stat pack

Vrana and Oshie each has five points in his past six games (three goals, two assists). … Toews has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games. … DeBrincat has six goals in his past six games.