Washington Capitals at Wild
Alex Ovechkin, Capitals to face undermanned Wild at Xcel Energy Center
Washington captain comes to town as NHL's third-leading scorer, with team playing well on road
January 8, 2022 at 6:45AM
7 p.m., Xcel Energy Center BSN 100.3-FM
Capitals preview: LW Alex Ovechkin entered Friday night's game at St. Louis second in the league in goals (24) and third in points (50) at age 36. His 754 career goals trail all-time leader Wayne Gretzky by 140. ... C Nicklas Backstrom and RW T.J. Oshie are on injured reserve because of non-COVID illnesses and RW Anthony Mantha (shoulder) is also out. ... The Capitals were 10-3-3 on the road before Friday, second best in the NHL, and averaged 3.44 goals per game.
Wild preview: They are third in the NHL in goals per game (3.63). ... Kevin Fiala moved to a line with C Ryan Hartman and W Mats Zuccarello in Friday's practice. ... The injury list is long. C Joel Eriksson Ek (upper body), LW Brandon Duhaime (COVID protocol), RW Jordan Greenway (COVID protocol), RW Kirill Kaprizov (upper body), C Nick Bjugstad (upper body), D Jared Spurgeon (lower body) and G Cam Talbot (lower body) are sidelined. D Jonas Brodin (undisclosed) and LW Marcus Foligno (maintenance) missed practice Friday. ... F Kyle Rau was called up from Iowa to the taxi squad.
After four days off, Wild will play Canadiens on Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center.
