Capitals at Blue Jackets preview

CAPITALS (35-20-7) at BLUE JACKETS (31-26-5)
7 p.m. ET; SN, FS-O, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

Ovechkin leads the NHL with 38 goals, and needs four to become the 20th player to score 600 in the NHL.
The Capitals lead the Metropolitan Division by one point over the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Center Mark Letestu and defenseman Ian Cole are game-time decisions for the Blue Jackets. Letestu was acquired from the Nashville Predators as part of a three-team trade Sunday that included the Edmonton Oilers. Cole was traded to the Blue Jackets by the Ottawa Senators on Monday.
The Blue Jackets hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference by two points over the New York Islanders.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov had a goal and three assists in a 5-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has allowed two or fewer goals in six of his past seven games. He is 4-2-1 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a. 929 save percentage in those games.

They said it

"Once it gets to 3 o'clock you see what happened around the League and then we'll go about our business." -- Capitals forward T.J. Oshie, on the NHL Trade Deadline
"He played great for the Oilers last year in the (Stanley Cup) Playoffs. It was some of his best hockey in his career. He's not far removed from that." -- Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, on forward Mark Letestu

Capitals projected lineup

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

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Artemi Panarin -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Cam Atkinson
Boone Jenner -- Alex Wennberg - Josh Anderson
Matt Calvert -- Brandon Dubinsky - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Nathan Gerbe
-- Mark Letestu -- Lukas Sedlak
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Ryan Murray -- Jack Johnson
Taylor Chorney -- David Savard
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched:Scott Harrington, Markus Hannikainen, Zac Dalpe, Ian Cole, Jussi Jokinen
Injured reserve: Nick Foligno (lower body), Dean Kukan (upper body), Markus Nutivaara (upper body)

Status report

Holtby will start after Grubauer played against the Sabres on Saturday. … Chorney is expected to make his Blue Jackets debut. He was claimed on waivers from the Capitals on Wednesday. Chorney played 97 games the past three seasons for the Capitals.

Stat pack

Ovechkin has five points (four goals, assist) during a four-game point streak. … Panarin has four points (two goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak.