Preview: Kings at Capitals

KINGS (27-21-4) at CAPITALS (35-11-6)
12 p.m. ET; NBC, NHL.TV

Kings team scope

The Los Angeles Kings have won five consecutive games after Jeff Carter scored 2:35 into overtime for a 1-0 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Carter's nine game-winning goals lead the NHL and are tied for most in Kings history (Anze Kopitar, 2013-14; Charlie Simmer, Marcel Dionne, each 1980-81). "Just getting good starts, I think we've started really well lately, and when you get good starts, you put the other team behind the eight ball right away," defenseman Drew Doughty said. "Tonight, maybe we didn't get off to an amazing start or anything, but we put the pressure on them early and created some chances the first two periods, and that kind of caused them to go a little bit on their heels and, like I said, I thought we should have won that game in regulation." Goalie Jeff Zatkoff is expected to start after Peter Budaj made 17 saves against the Flyers for his second consecutive shutout. Budaj's seven shutouts lead the League. The Kings are 6-4-0 in their past 10 games.

Capitals team scope

Backup goalie Philipp Grubauer is expected to start for the Washington Capitals. Grubauer is 9-3-2 this season and has won six of his past eight starts. Braden Holtby made 20 saves in a 3-2 victory against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, his 10th consecutive win dating to Dec. 29. "I think you can see how we play, we play simple, we didn't make mistakes," captain Alex Ovechkin said. "And if we make mistakes, our goaltending is right there. It's very important to have confidence in the back end, so we knew if we get the lead, we just have to play simple." Washington, which leads the NHL with 76 points, is 15-2-1 since Dec. 31.

Kings projected lineup

Marian Gaborik -- Anze Kopitar -- Dustin Brown
Tanner Pearson -- Jeff Carter -- Tyler Toffoli
Dwight King -- Nicholas Shore -- Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford -- Nic Dowd -- Andy Andreoff
Jake Muzzin -- Drew Doughty
Derek Forbort -- Alec Martinez
Brayden McNabb -- Kevin Gravel
Jeff Zatkoff
Peter Budaj
Scratched:Devin Setoguchi, Paul LaDue
Injured:Jonathan Quick (groin), Jordan Nolan (lower body), Matt Greene (back/groin)

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Marcus Johansson -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Justin Williams
Brett Connolly -- Lars Eller -- Andre Burakovsky
Daniel Winnik -- Jay Beagle -- Tom Wilson
Karl Alzner -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik -- Nate Schmidt
Philipp Grubauer
Braden Holtby
Scratched:Taylor Chorney, Jakub Vrana

Status report

Quick is traveling with the Kings for their four-game road trip, but he's not expected to play. He was injured Oct. 12 in the first period of the season opener. … Nolan did not play Saturday and is day to day.

Who's hot

Backstrom has five points (two goals, three assists) in the past three games. … Carter has three goals in the past two games. Doughty has a goal and seven assists during a seven-game point streak, and Kopitar has seven points (two goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak.