Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals visit the New York Islanders on Monday night for the first meeting of the season between the two teams. The teams split four games between them last season with each winning on the other’s turf once. Action from UBS Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington in-market or ESPN+ out-of-market.

SCHEDULE

Washington: end stretch where they play five of six games vs. Metropolitan Division (2-3-0 so far with one loss coming vs. Nashville Predators), play six of last eight games before NHL All-Star Break on road starting Monday night, start set of back-to-backs with Minnesota Wild awaiting them in the District

New York: fourth game of season-long five-game homestand (1-1-1 so far) and stretch where they play 12 of 16 (including six of seven) at home

RECORDS

Washington: 23-16-6/.603 points percentage – fourth in Metropolitan Division, seventh in Eastern Conference; 10-9-3 on road, 17th in NHL

New York: 23-18-3/.557 points percentage – fifth in Metropolitan Division (sixth in points percentage), eighth in Eastern Conference (ninth); 13-7-1 on road, ninth

HOW EACH TEAM IS DOING

Washington: lost back-to-back games to Philadelphia Flyers and have lost three of their last four in regulation since their nine-game point-streak (7-0-2) ended

New York: 2-1 win vs. Montreal Canadiens on Saturday ended four-game losing streak (0-3-1), had lost five of their previous six (1-4-1)

TEAM LEADERS

Washington

• LW Alex Ovechkin (30 goals, 49 points)
• C Evgeny Kuznetsov (30 assists)
• D Dmitry Orlov (22:14 TOI/game) — excluding D John Carlson

Notes: Ovechkin, 37, snapped a three-game scoring drought with Washington’s lone goal in their 3-1 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday; Kuznetsov, 30, has gone scoreless in four straight since a seven-game point-streak ended; C Dylan Strome has gone scoreless in four of his last five (three assists); LW Conor Sheary has just one assist in last five and no points in his last three; LW Marcus Johansson has just one goal in his last six; C Nic Dowd has two goals, five points in last six; LW Sonny Milano has gone scoreless in his last three; C Lars Eller has gone scoreless in his last six; RW T.J. Oshie has just three goals in his last 11 and five in his last 17; D Dmitry Orlov has gone scoreless in his last three; RW Tom Wilson has gone scoreless in three games this season

New York

• C Brock Nelson/LW Anders Lee (15 goals each)
• C Mathew Barzal (30 assists, 41 points)
• D Noah Dobson (20:54 TOI/game)

Notes: Five defenseman average 20+ minutes a game (Dobson, Adam Pelech: 20:49, Scott Mayfield: 20:35, Ryan Pulock: 20:13, Alexander Romanov: 20:10); Nelson, 31, has just one assist in his last five, including none in his last two; Lee, 32, has one goal and a -7 rating in his last five, two goals and a -9 rating in his last eight; Barzal, 25, has no points and a -3 rating in last three after scoring six goals, eight points over five-game goal-scoring streak; Dobson has just two assists (both of which came in last three) in his last eight; LW Zach Parise has just one goal in his last seven and none in his last three; LW Anthony Beauvillier snapped an eight-game scoring drought with a goal vs. Montreal; RW Josh Bailey has gone scoreless in five straight and has just an assist in his last seven; D Scott Mayfield has goal, four points in last five

KEY TEAM STATS

Goals-per-game:                 WSH – 3.2 (15th)             NYI – 3.02 (T-22nd)

Goals-against per game:   WSH – 2.76 (T-9th)         NYI – 2.66 (T-5th)

Power Play:                          WSH – 21.4% (17th)        NYI – 18% (27th)

Penalty Kill:                         WSH – 80.6% (11th)       NYI – 82.4% (6th)

Shots-per-game:                 WSH – 31.6 (16th)           NYI – 30.6 (20th)

Shots-against per game:   WSH – 30.4 (10th)          NYI – 31.2 (T-14th)

Faceoff-winning %:            WSH – 49.7% (15th)       NYI – 50.2% (14th)

5v5 Corsi-for %:                  WSH – 51.05% (14th)     NYI – 49.03% (22nd)

5v5 x Goals-For %:             WSH – 51.02% (17th)     NYI – 48.48% (23rd)

5v5 SCF %:                           WSH – 51.05% (T-14th) NYI – 49.32% (22nd)

5v5 Shooting %:                  WSH – 8.53% (15th)       NYI – 8.87% (T-9th)

5v5 Save %:                          WSH – .9232 (9th)          NYI – .9305 (4th)

5v5 PDO:                              WSH – 1.009 (9th)          NYI – 1.019 (3rd)

EXPECTED STARTING GOALTENDERS

Washington: Charlie Lindgren, 29 — 11-5-2, .912 save percentage, 2.60 goals-against average (15th in NHL) in 19 games this season; 32-save performance (.914 save percentage) in Montreal Canadiens’ 6-3 win at New York on March 2, 2018, the lone start in his NHL career made against them

New York: Ilya Sorokin, 26 — 15-14-2, .927 save percentage (second), 2.25 goals-against average (third), three shutouts (tied for third) in 33 games; 1-2-0, .917 save percentage, 2.70 goals-against average in three career games vs. Washington

INJURIES/ILLNESSES

Washington

• D John Carlson (upper-body, will miss 10th straight game, out indefinitely)
• RW Connor Brown (ACL, 42nd, indefinite)
• LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 46th, indefinite)

New York

• Pelech (upper-body, 18th, indefinite)
• RW Kyle Palmieri (upper-body, 14th, indefinite)
• RW Oliver Wahlstrom (lower-body, ninth, indefinite)

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Washington

Ovechkin — Kuznetsov — Sheary
Milano — Nicklas Backstrom — Wilson
Anthony Mantha — Nic Dowd — T.J. Oshie
Marcus Johansson — Lars Eller — Garnet Hathaway

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

Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper

Scratched: Strome, RW Nicolas Aube-Kubel, D Alexander Alexeyev

New York

Parise — Barzal — Bailey
Lee — Nelson — Simon Holmstrom
Beauvillier — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin — Casey Cizikas — Cal Clutterbuck

Parker Wotherspoon — Pulock
Romanov — Mayfield
Sebastian Aho — Dobson

Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

Scratched: LW Ross Johnston

Game Notes

By Harrison Brown