Wild gameday
6 P.M. at Washington • Verizon Center • FSN, 100.3-FM
Preview: Two weeks after Alex Ovechkin's hat trick butchered the Wild on home ice, the Wild will be looking to shut down the NHL's leading goal scorer once again. The Wild won 2-1 in Washington last season. The NHL-leading Caps have won nine of their past 11 and are coming off a rare home loss to Montreal.
Players to watch: Ovechkin leads the NHL with 39 goals, 15 power-play goals and 303 shots. C Evgeny Kuznetsov is fifth with 62 points, third with 44 assists and first with a plus-30. C Nicklas Backstrom is tied for third with 23 power-play points. G Braden Holtby is 38-6-3 with a 2.22 goals-against average and .923 save percentage. Wild G Darcy Kuemper should get the start. He ended a three-game losing streak with a 31-save win at Edmonton on Feb. 18.
Numbers: The Caps lead the NHL with 3.29 goals per game and a 22.9 percent power play and rank third with 2.31 goals against per game and fourth with a 84.5 percent penalty kill. … The Wild is 4-4-3 in the second of back-to-backs this season.
Injuries: Wild LW Zach Parise (upper body), LW/RW Jason Zucker (concussion) and D Jonas Brodin (broken foot) are out. Capitals C Jay Beagle (upper body) is out.
Michael Russo
