New Jersey @ Washington preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 30, 2018 ) New Jersey 3, Washington 6

Alex Ovechkin could go down as the second-greatest goal scorer in NHL history but until the final chapter of his illustrious career is written, he'll concentrate on trying to help the Washington Capitals defend their first Stanley Cup title. First-place Washington tries for its sixth straight victory when it hosts the struggling New Jersey Devils on Friday with a couple more milestones in sight for Ovechkin, who leads the league with 46 goals and is one point shy of 1,200.

"It's such a long season, it's amazing that he can do it every single night," linemate Tom Wilson told NHL.com about the 33-year-old Ovechkin, whose 653 career goals are 14th all-time and 148 shy of Gordie Howe for second. "One of the hardest things in this league is to stay consistent and he's done it for 14 years now. So, it's awesome and it's something that people will remember his name probably forever." Ovechkin, who has eight goals and five assists in his last 10 games, is poised to record his eighth career 50-goal season and fourth since any other player - Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos (60) and Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin (50) in 2011-12 - has done it. New Jersey begins a six-game road trip after losing its fourth straight, 2-1 in a shootout against Columbus on Tuesday, and has scored only five goals during the slide. ''... We're not scoring as much as we need to, but we are a really hard team to play against right now,'' Devils forward Blake Coleman told reporters. "Our forecheck and our effort is very obvious. A lot of guys are starting to show they can play in this league."

TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, Sportsnet; MSG Plus (New Jersey), NBCS Washington

ABOUT THE DEVILS (25-33-9): Travis Zajac, who has won 57.7 of his faceoffs - third among players with at least 700 attempts entering Thursday - needs one point for 500 after scoring his 15th goal of the season and the 182nd of his career Tuesday. Jesper Bratt (33 points) left Tuesday's game after taking a shot off his leg while Nico Hischier, who is second on the team in points (44) and third in goals (17), did not play against Columbus after sustaining an upper-body injury in Saturday's 1-0 loss to Boston. Kyle Palmieri (team highs of 26 goals and 48 points) has missed the last four games (lower body).

ABOUT THE CAPITALS (39-21-7): Braden Holtby on Wednesday became the second-fastest player in NHL history to record 250 victories, accomplishing the feat in 409 games - second only to Ken Dryden (383). "I've been pretty fortunate to play on some good teams," Holtby told reporters after a 5-3 victory at Philadelphia. "Wins is a stat that is shared with your whole team, also a consistency thing with the regular season so it shows the commitment we've had in this organization and hopefully we can continue that." Nicklas Backstrom (63 points) recorded a goal and an assist Tuesday - like Ovechkin - and has three goals and seven points in his last five games.

OVERTIME

1. Forty-eight players have recorded at least 1,200 points in NHL history with San Jose's Joe Thornton and Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby the only active players on the list.

2. New Jersey is 0-for-18 on the power play over its last eight games.

3. The teams split the first two meetings in the four-game season series with Washington prevailing 6-3 on Nov. 30 in the last encounter behind Backstrom's second career hat trick.

PREDICTION: Capitals 3, Devils 2