Wild at Capitals
The Washington Capitals hope to erase a trend that has seen them trail in six straight games as they host the Minnesota Wild on Friday. Washington, which is coasting to its second Presidents' Trophy in seven years as the NHL's best regular-season team, won four of the first five such contests before dropping a 4-3 decision to Montreal on Wednesday - its second regulation loss in its last 20 home games (17-2-1).
The Capitals must also avoid becoming complacent as it leads Dallas by 10 points for the league's top record, the New York Rangers by 16 in the Metropolitan Division and Florida by 15 in the Eastern Conference. "I don't think we're going to allow that to happen," Washington defenseman Brooks Orpik told reporters. "Maybe I'm naive, maybe it's creeping in a little bit. It's one of those things where you have to stay focused. ... Take your foot off the gas, it's tough to all of a sudden turn the switch back on for the playoff." Minnesota lost at Philadelphia 3-2 on Thursday - their second straight setback - to remain four points behind Colorado for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference with two games in hand on the Avalanche. The Wild fell to 4-2 under interim coach John Torchetti, who took over from Mike Yeo on Feb. 13 after a eight-game losing streak, and have lost seven straight versus Metropolitan teams (0-6-1).
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN North, FSN Wisconsin (Minnesota), CSN DC (Washington)
ABOUT THE WILD (27-24-10): It appeared Minnesota would earn an important point Thursday but Charlie Coyle was robbed by Michal Neuvirth with 1.6 seconds remaining, prompting the center to tell reporters: "That's crazy. It's a game of inches. Just a great save.'' Zach Parise (team-best 18 goals along with Coyle and Thomas Vanek) is expected to miss second straight game with an upper-body injury while Jason Zucker (12 goals) has been placed on injured reserve due to a concussion. Vanek scored Thursday for his third goal in four games and has five points during that span.
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (44-11-4): Alex Ovechkin, who leads the NHL with 39 goals, did not score Wednesday after recording four goals in his previous three games. Forward Mike Richards learned Wednesday he will not be prosecuted on a drug charge stemming from an incident at the North Dakota-Canada border in August. Mike Weber, a physical stay-at-home defenseman, is expected to meet his new teammates at Friday's morning skate after the Pittsburgh native was acquired from Buffalo on Tuesday for a third-round pick in the 2017 draft.
OVERTIME
1. Washington has the league's top power play at 22.9 percent, but is 2-for-20 in its last five games.
2. The Wild have scored a power-play goal in a franchise-record nine straight road games.
3. The Capitals prevailed 4-3 on Feb. 11 in Minnesota on the strength of Ovechkin's 14th career hat trick.