Capitals at Red Wings preview

CAPITALS (42-24-7) at RED WINGS (27-35-11)
7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV

The Capitals, 5-1-0 in their past six games and 7-3-0 in their past 10, are two points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins for first place in the Metropolitan with a game in hand.
The Red Wings, 1-9-1 in their past 11 games, trail the New Jersey Devils by 17 points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Detroit will be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss of any kind.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has nine points (four goals, five assists) in a five-game point streak.
Red Wings center Dylan Larkin has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past three games.

They said it

"I don't see why he wouldn't be a Norris candidate with the way he plays on both ends. Scoring in this league is tough, especially from the back end, but he's able to do it. He's learned to recognize the windows that open up during a game and how to take advantage of them." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz on defenseman John Carlson, who will play in his 600th NHL game Thursday
"He had 15 shots against us a couple years ago, and he didn't score, so maybe we just need to tire him out. The better idea, though, is to do everything you can to take away his time and space. You can't let him get set up." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill on Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky -- Lars Eller -- T.J. Oshie
Brett Connolly -- Travis Boyd -- Jakub Vrana
Chandler Stephenson -- Jay Beagle -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Christian Djoos -- Brooks Orpik
Philipp Grubauer
Pheonix Copley
Scratched:Alex Chiasson, Jakub Jerabek
Injured:Evgeny Kuznetsov (upper body), Braden Holtby (lower body)

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Red Wings projected lineup

Tyler Bertuzzi -- Henrik Zetterberg -- Gustav Nyquist
Darren Helm -- Dylan Larkin -- Anthony Mantha
Justin Abdelkader -- Frans Nielsen -- Andreas Athanasiou
Evgeny Svechnikov -- Luke Glendening -- Martin Frk
Niklas Kronwall -- Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson -- Trevor Daley
Danny DeKeyser -- Nick Jensen
Jimmy Howard
Jared Coreau
Scratched:Luke Witkowski, Xavier Ouellet, David Booth
Injured: None

Status report

Holtby will not dress after sustaining a minor lower-body injury in the third period of a 4-3 win against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday. Holtby was flexing his left knee after a collision with Stars forward Remi Elie, but finished the game. Copley was recalled from Hershey of the American Hockey League and will back up Grubauer, who already was scheduled to start Thursday. … Kuznetsov also skated, but will miss his third straight game. … The Red Wings held an optional skate.

Stat pack

Backstrom has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his past 10 games. … The Red Wings have allowed at least four goals in five straight games and in nine of their past 10.