Photo by Christopher Mast/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals see the Seattle Kraken for the first of two meetings this season, both of which come just eight days apart, on Thursday night. The teams split the first two ever games against one another with each squad winning 5-2 on home turf, including a Washington victory on March 5. Action from Climate Pledge Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington in-market or ESPN+ out-of-market beginning at 10 PM ET.

SCHEDULE

Washington: reach the middle of a season-long six-game road trip after splitting the first two games of it following a 5-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday

Seattle: return from three-game road trip, which they swept, and start a three-game homestand; play 10th game during a stretch where they play nine of 12 at home

RECORDS

Washington: 10-11-4/.479 points percentage – sixth in Metropolitan Division, 12th in Eastern Conference in points; 3-7-2 on road, 27th in NHL

Seattle: 14-5-3/.705 points percentage – second in Pacific Division and Western Conference; 6-4-2 at home, T-13th

HOW EACH TEAM IS DOING

Washington: has won three of their last four since dropping nine of their previous 11 (2-6-3)

Seattle: has won six in a row, points in seven straight; 9-3-2 (fifth-best) after losing their first two home games

TEAM LEADERS

Washington

• LW Alex Ovechkin (13 goals, 23 points)
• Cs Evgeny Kuznetsov/Dylan Strome (13 assists each)
• D John Carlson (23:21 TOI/game)

Notes: Ovechkin, 37, has five goals and four multi-point games in his last six (nine points) after a two-goal performance in Vancouver; Carlson, 32, has goals in back-to-back games; LW Anthony Mantha ended a five-game scoring drought with a goal and an assist in Vancouver; LW Conor Sheary has one helper in his last five; RW T.J. Oshie has a goal and four points in four games after missing 11 straight wit a lower-body injury; C Lars Eller ended a six-game scoring drought with an assist against Vancouver

Seattle

• C Jarred McCann (10 goals)
• RW Jordan Eberle (15 assists)
• LW Andre Burakovsky (23 points)
• D Adam Larsson (23:49 TOI/game)

Notes: Burakovsky, 27, has five goals and eight points over a four-game point-streak and 11 assists and 18 points in his last 16; Eberle, 32, has 13 assists and 19 points in his last 17, including one goal and six points over a three-game point-streak; McCann, 26, has three goals in his last two and five goals and seven points in his last six; Rookie C Matty Beniers has five goals and 11 points over a five-game point-streak; D Justin Schultz (who spent the last two seasons in Washington) has two goals and 10 points over a six-game point-streak; D Vince Dunn has two goals, four points, and a +8 rating in his last four; Former Washington RW Daniel Sprong has one goal and two points in back-to-back games and three goals and six points over his last five; C Alexander Wennberg has two goals and four points in his last two

KEY TEAM STATS

Goals-per-game:                  WSH – 2.79 (26th)         SEA – 3.82 (third)

Goals-against per game:    WSH – 3.04 (12th)         SEA – 3.09 (14th)

Power Play:                           WSH – 20.2% (20th)     SEA– 26% (seventh)

Penalty Kill:                          WSH – 80.6% (T-12th)  SEA – 68.6% (30th)

Shots-per-game:                  WSH – 30.1 (T-24th)      SEA – 29.1 (29th)

Shots-against per game:    WSH – 31 (T-13th)          SEA – 27.6 (third)

Faceoff-winning %:             WSH – 47.4% (24th)      SEA – 44% (31st)

5v5 Corsi-for %:                   WSH – 51.65% (10th)     SEA – 50.87% (13th)

5v5 x Goals-For %:              WSH – 49.11% (22nd)    SEA – 52.21% (12th)

5v5 SCF %:                           WSH – 51.41% (14th)      SEA – 48.99% (21st)

5v5 Shooting %:                  WSH – 7.83% (18th)       SEA – 10.86% (first)

5v5 Save %:                          WSH – .9177 (12th)         SEA – .9167 (15th)

5v5 PDO:                              WSH –.996 (17th)            SEA – 1.025 (T-second)

EXPECTED STARTING GOALTENDERS

Washington: Darcy Kuemper, 32 — 8-9-1, .917 save percentage, 3.51 goals-against average, two shutouts in 18 games this season; 25 saves on 28 shots-against (.893 save percentage) in lone career start vs. Seattle on November 19, 2021 with Colorado Avalanche

Seattle: Martin Jones, 32 — 12-4-2, .893 save percentage, 2.90 goals-against average, one shutout in 18 games; 6-5-1, .890 save percentage, 3.26 goals-against average, two shutouts in 13 career games vs. Washington

INJURIES/ILLNESSES

Washington

• RW Connor Brown (lower-body, will miss 21st straight game, out indefinitely)
• D Dmitry Orlov (lower-body, 12th, day-to-day)
• LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 25th, indefinite)
• RW Tom Wilson (ACL, 25th, indefinite)
• C Nicklas Backstrom (hip, 25th, indefinite)
• LW Beck Malenstyn (finger, 14th, week-to-week)

Seattle

• G Chris Driedger (knee, 23rd, indefinite)
• RW Joonas Donskoi (upper-body, 23rd, indefinite)
• C Morgan Geekie (upper-body, second, day-to-day)

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Washington

Ovechkin — Strome — Sheary
Sonny Milano — Kuznetsov — Oshie
Marcus Johansson — Eller — Mantha
Aliaksei Protas — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway

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

Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: LW Joe Snively, RW Nicolas Aube-Kubel, D Alexander Alexeyev

Seattle

Jaden Schwartz — Wennberg — Burakovsky
McCann — Beniers — Eberle
Brandon Tanev — Yanni Gourde — Oliver Bjorkstrand
Sprong — Ryan Donato — Karson Kuhlman

Dunn — Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak — Schultz
Carson Soucy — Will Borgen

Jones
Philipp Grubauer

Scratched: D Cale Fleury

Game Notes

By Harrison Brown