PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. CAPITALS

Finding themselves in an uphill battle for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (28-24-7) return to the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday to take on Barry Trotz's powerhouse Washington Capitals (39-12-7). The nationally televised Wednesday Night Rivalry Game on NBCSN starts at 8 p.m. ET.

This is the third of four meetings between the teams this season and the second and final one in Philadelphia. The teams split the first two games. The host Flyers prevailed via shootout, 3-2, on Dec. 21. On Jan. 15, the Flyers were punished by the Capitals, 5-0, in DC.

Flyers Outlook

The Flyers, who are just 2-4-1 in their last seven games, are coming off a 3-2 road win over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday. Goals by Wayne Simmonds (power play), Jakub Voracek and Brayden Schenn (power play) built a 3-0 cushion and then the Flyers held on to win by one goal. Michal Neuvirth stopped 18 of 20 shots.

Entering Wednesday's games, the Flyers are in a bad situation in terms of their playoff outlook. They are now three points behind the Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins and New York Islanders with tiebreaker disadvantages in the event of a dead heat with any of them. Additionally, the Panthers (58 games played) hold one game in hand on Philly.

Andrew MacDonald was a healthy scratch in Vancouver, along with the frequently scratched Nick Schultz. Jordan Weal (upper-body injury) practiced on Tuesday but is not expected to be ready play in this game. Travis Konecny (lower body) is on IR.

Capitals Outlook

The Caps own the best record in the NHL and hold a three-point lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins for first place in the Metropolitan Division. The team has collected points from eight of its last 10 games (7-2-1) and is 15-7-6 on the road this season.

Washington enters this game coming off a 2-1 road loss to the New York Rangers that could have gone either way. The game was tied at 1-1 in the third period before Mats Zuccarello put the Rangers ahead to stay. Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves to earn the win. Alex Ovechkin scored his 27th goal of the season for the lone Caps' tally. Phillip Grubauer stopped 28 of 30 Rangers shots in a losing cause.

On the injury front, Andre Burakovsky is out until mid-March after suffering a hand injury.

Projected lineups (subject to change)

FLYERS

10 Brayden Schenn - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds
22 Dale Weise - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
12 Michael Raffl - 25 Nick Cousins - 24 Matt Read
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Édouard Bellemare - 13 Roman Lyubimov

9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
32 Mark Streit - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas

30 Michal Neuvirth
[35 Steve Mason]

Scratches: Michael Del Zotto (healthy), Nick Schultz (healthy), Jordan Weal (upper body), Travis Konecny (IR, lower body).

CAPITALS

8 Alexander Ovechkin - 19 Nicklas Bäckström - 77 T.J. Oshie
90 Marcus Johansson - 92 Evgeny Kuznetsov - 14 Justin Williams
10 Brett Connolly - 20 Lars Eller - 82 Zach Sanford
26 Daniel Winnik - 83 Jay Beagle - 43 Tom Wilson

27 Karl Alzner - 74 John Carlson
9 Dmitri Orlov - 2 Matt Niskanen
44 Brooks Orpik - 88 Nate Schmidt

70 Braden Holtby
[31 Philipp Grubauer]

Scratches: Travis Boyd (healthy), Taylor Chorney (healthy), Andre Burakovsky (IR, hand).

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