Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals take on the New Jersey Devils for their final meeting in the Garden State and second of four this season on Saturday night. Washington defeated New Jersey in the first get together between the two by a score of 6-3 on October 24 and has points in 12 straight games (11-0-1) against them.

In addition, they are 30-4-3 against New Jersey since 2014-15. Action from Prudential Center can be seen on NBC Sports Washington locally or ESPN+ out-of-market starting at 7 PM ET.

SCHEDULE

Washington: end set of back-to-backs after 3-0 win over Calgary Flames on Friday afternoon and begin season-long six-game road trip

New Jersey: wrap up back-to-back set following 3-1 victory over Buffalo Sabres on Friday night; in midst of stretch where they play 14 of 23 games at home

RECORDS

Washington: 9-10-3/.477 points percentage (2-6-2 on road) – sixth in Metropolitan Division, 12th in Eastern Conference in points

New Jersey: 17-4-0/.810 points percentage (8-3-0 at home) – first in Metropolitan Division, second in Eastern Conference

HOW EACH TEAM IS DOING

Washington: coming off of back-to-back wins after dropping 10 of their previous 13 games (3-7-3)

New Jersey: 14-1-0 since losing to Washington last month

TEAM LEADERS

Washington

• LW Alex Ovechkin (11 goals, 21 points)
• C Evgeny Kuznetsov (13 assists)
• D John Carlson (23:20 TOI/game)

Notes: Ovechkin, 37, has three goals, seven points, and three multi-point games over his last four games (Washington was shut out in the one he wasn’t on scoresheet); Kuznetsov, 30, has three goals and nine points in his last nine; Carlson has no points in his last three; LW Anthony Mantha has no points over his last four since three-game point-streak ended; RW T.J. Oshie has a goal and four points in two games after missing 11 with a lower-body injury

New Jersey

• C Nico Hischier (nine goals)
• LW Jesper Bratt (17 assists, 25 points)
• D Dougie Hamilton (21:51 TOI/game)

Notes: Hischier, 23, has points in 15 of 20 games this season and has 23 overall; Bratt, 24, has points in 17 of 21 but two of his last four; C Jack Hughes has 12 assists and 19 points in his last 15 since recording no points and a -3 rating vs. Washington; Hamilton, 29, has just one goal in his last five; C Yegor Sharangovich has three goals and six points over a five-game point streak; LW Miles Wood has one assist over his last seven; LW Fabian Zetterlund saw a four-game assist streak (four helpers) end in Buffalo; New Jersey has seven of the top-17 players in plus-minus (D Jonas Siegenthaler, first – +21; D Ryan Graves, third – +17; LW Tomas Tatar, tied for fourth – +16; Hischier, tied for eighth – +15; Hamilton, tied for 11th – +13; Bratt and D John Marino, tied for 17th – +12)

KEY TEAM STATS

Goals-per-game:                  WSH – 2.77 (26th)         NJ – 3.67 (3rd)

Goals-against per game:    WSH – 3.05 (14th)          NJ – 2.24 (T-1st)

Power Play:                           WSH – 20.3% (T-20th)  NJ – 19.7% (23rd)

Penalty Kill:                          WSH – 80.3% (13th)       NJ – 82.4% (T-5th)

Shots-per-game:                  WSH – 29.8 (25th)          NJ – 36.7 (2nd)

Shots-against per game:    WSH – 31 (T-11th)           NJ – 25.2 (1st)

Faceoff-winning %:             WSH – 47.4% (24th)       NJ – 53% (T-6th)

5v5 Corsi-for %:                   WSH – 51.02% (13th)      NJ – 58.74% (2nd)

5v5 x Goals-For %:              WSH – 47.97% (23rd)     NJ – 62.13% (1st)

5v5 SCF %:                           WSH – 50.51% (18th)      NJ – 61.75% (1st)

5v5 Shooting %:                  WSH – 7.88% (16th)        NJ – 8.89% (11th)

5v5 Save %:                          WSH – .9195 (12th)         NJ – .9244 (7th)

5v5 PDO:                              WSH –.998 (16th)            NJ – 1.013 (8th)

EXPECTED STARTING GOALTENDERS

Washington: Charlie Lindgren, 28 — 2-1-2, .905 save percentage, 3.13 goals-against average in six games this season; 2-1-0, .867 save percentage, 4.24 goals-against average in three career games vs. New Jersey (including 38-save performance, .927 save percentage on October 24)

New Jersey: Vitek Vanecek, 26 — 9-2-0, .917 save percentage, 2.14 goals-against average, one shutout; three saves on four shots in 20 minutes of relief appearance vs. former team, who traded him to New Jersey on July 8; first career start vs. Washington

INJURIES/ILLNESSES

Washington

• RW Connor Brown (lower-body, will miss 19th straight game, out indefinitely)
• D Dmitry Orlov (lower-body, 10th, day-to-day)
• LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 23rd, indefinite)
• RW Tom Wilson (ACL, 23rd, indefinite)
• C Nicklas Backstrom (hip, 23rd, indefinite)
• LW Beck Malenstyn (finger, 12th, week-to-week)

New Jersey

• LW Ondrej Palat (groin, 16th, indefinite)
• G MacKenzie Blackwood (MCL, 11th, week-to-week)
• G Jonathan Bernier (hip, 22nd, indefinite)

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Washington

Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Conor Sheary
Sonny Milano — Kuznetsov — Oshie
Marcus Johansson — Lars Eller — Mantha
Nicolas Aube-Kubel — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper

Scratched: LW Joe Snively, D Alexander Alexeyev, C Aliaksei Protas

New Jersey

Tatar — Hischier — Bratt
Erik Haula — Hughes — Dawson Mercer
Wood — Michael McLeod — Nathan Bastian
Sharangovich — Jesper Boqvist — Zetterlund

Siegenthaler — Hamilton
Graves — Marino
Brendan Smith — Damon Severson

Vanecek
Akira Schmid

Scratched: D Tyler Wotherspoon

Game Notes

By Harrison Brown