Wild at Capitals preview

WILD (34-31-9) at CAPITALS (43-23-8)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, TVAS, NBCSWA, FS-N, NHL.TV

The Wild, who have lost two straight and are 2-4-3 in their past 10 games, trail the Colorado Avalanche and Arizona Coyotes, tied for the second wild card, by one point each.
The Capitals, 9-2-1 in their past 12 games and 15-5-2 in their past 22, look to widen their lead in the Metropolitan Division; they are three points ahead of the New York Islanders with eight regular-season games remaining.
Washington has won eight straight games against Minnesota, dating back to March 19, 2015.

Players to watch

Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk is 7-4-1 with a 2.20 goals-against average, .926 save percentage and one shutout in his past 12 starts.
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin needs two goals become the third player in NHL history with at least eight 50-goal seasons in his career; Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy each had nine.

They said it

"You definitely don't want to put yourself in the position to be in the [penalty] box all night against these guys. It's just a recipe for disaster. We go over it and we talk about it. I don't have to drill into their heads because it's to the point where they know." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau
"He came into camp in great shape right from the start. He was ready to go early on. In certain games he's feeling it, number of hits last game (five) and 11 shots on net." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden on forward Alex Ovechkin, whose ice time per game (20:51) is his most since 2012-13 (20:53)

Wild projected lineup

Zach Parise -- Eric Staal -- Jason Zucker
Jordan Greenway -- Luke Kunin -- Kevin Fiala
Ryan Donato -- Victor Rask --
Matt Read
Marcus Foligno -- Eric Fehr -- JT Brown
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Greg Pateryn
Nick Seeler -- Brad Hunt
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched: Anthony Bitetto, Pontus Aberg
Injured: Mikko Koivu (knee), Matt Dumba (ruptured right pectoral muscle), Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body)

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin -- Lars Eller -- Brett Connolly
Andre Burakovsky -- Nic Dowd -- Travis Boyd
Christian Djoos -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik -- Nick Jensen
Braden Holtby
Pheonix Copley
Scratched: Dmitrij Jaskin, Chandler Stephenson
Injured: Michal Kempny (lower body)

Status report

The Wild held an optional morning skate. … Reirden said Kempny, injured in a 5-4 overtime loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, will be out indefinitely and was still undergoing tests.

Stat pack

Parise has three points (two goals, one assist) in a three-game point streak. … Ovechkin is one goal from tying Brendan Shanahan (656) for 13th place on the NHL all-time list, and one power-play goal from passing Phil Esposito (246) and tying Luc Robitaille (247) for fourth place all-time. … Kuznetsov has five points (three goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak.