Wild at Capitals
An encounter between the Minnesota Wild and the Washington Capitals may not seem like a marquee matchup, but it will be for fans of Devan Dubnyk and Alex Ovechkin. One of the league's hottest goaltenders in Dubnyk will try to slow down the league's leading goal scorer in Ovechkin as the Wild visit the Capitals on Thursday night. Ovechkin increased his NHL-best total to 43 with a pair of tallies in the Capitals' 5-3 triumph over Columbus on Tuesday.
Ovechkin has been virtually unstoppable of late, racking up 10 goals in his last 10 games to open up a five-goal advantage over current runner-up Rick Nash of the New York Rangers. He could be in tough against Dubnyk, who is an incredible 16-3-1 with a 1.65 goals-against average, a .937 save percentage and five shutouts in 21 games since coming to Minnesota in a trade with Arizona. The Wild come in having won three consecutive games.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS-N (Minnesota), FS-WI, CSN-DC (Washington)
ABOUT THE WILD (34-22-7): Despite its incredible run, Minnesota still has plenty of work to do in order to secure a post-season spot. The Wild enter Thursday as the fifth-best team in the Central Division, behind the Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks and Winnipeg Jets - and since only three teams per division are guaranteed playoff spots, Minnesota is left scrambling to hang on to one of the two wild-card berths. Fortunately, the only team offering much of a challenge is Los Angeles, which enters the night three points back.
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (35-20-10): Ovechkin won't turn 30 until next September, but he's already closing in on some impressive company in the goal-scoring department. The 2004 first overall pick is up to 465 career regular-season goals, good for 54th on the all-time list and fourth overall among active players. Ovechkin needs just 11 more goals to crack the top 50 all-time, and while he likely won't reach the 500-goal plateau this season, he has a chance to become the fifth-fastest to reach the mark - he just needs 35 goals in his next 58 games to do it.
OVERTIME
1. The home team has won the last nine meetings and 13 of 14 overall.
2. Washington has won five of its last six games against Western Conference opponents
3. Ovechkin has four goals and three assists in seven career meetings with the Wild.