Capitals at Wild
The Washington Capitals have clinched a playoff spot and are holding down the pole position for a second straight Presidents' Trophy, but they kick off a five-game road trip at the reeling Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night. Washington has won four in a row and owns a six-game point streak that started with a 4-2 victory over the Wild on March 14.
The Capitals have a three-point lead over Columbus and Pittsburgh for first place in the Metropolitan Division and the best record in the Eastern Conference, but their season-high trek features comes in an eight-day span and features games in four different time zones. "It’s always tougher on the road ... especially starting off with a back-to-back," forward T.J. Oshie said. "But we’re looking to improve obviously, from our last road trip.” Minnesota is sliding in the other direction, relinquishing its grip on first place in the Central Division by dropping 10 of its last 12 games (2-9-1). The Wild have produced two goals or fewer nine times in their tailspin and have dropped their last four against Washington.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NHL Network, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington), FSN North (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (49-17-8): Alex Ovechkin is having a somewhat sub-par season by his standards, but he reached a milestone in his last game by becoming the third player in league history (Mike Gartner, Wayne Gretzky) to score at least 30 goals in his first 12 seasons. “It’s very huge, obviously,” Ovechkin said. “It’s nice to be in history. But more history to come.” Ovechkin ended a career-long 10-game drought by scoring against Minnesota two weeks ago and has tallied in three of the past six contests.
ABOUT THE WILD (44-24-7): Minnesota ranked second in the league in scoring entering March with an average of 3.38 goals per game, but that number has dwindled to 2.21 this month, leading to 11 losses in 14 games (3-10-1). "There's a lot of guys that have gone dry," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They're going to start going in and we all hope that is soon." One of the few players who has been immune to the slump is Eric Staal, who has pumped in seven goals in the last 10 games to boost his total to 26.
OVERTIME
1. Capitals G Braden Holtby can join Martin Brodeur and Evgeni Nabokov as the only netminders with three straight 40-win seasons.
2. Wild G Devan Dubnyk is 2-4-0 with a 3.39 goals-against average versus Washington.
3. Capitals C Nicklas Backstrom has 11 points in the past six games, including three assists against Minnesota.