The Capitals conclude their four game homestand with a Friday night matchup against the Minnesota Wild at Verizon Center. This game marks the second and final meeting between the two teams this season.

The Capitals are coming off of a tough Wednesday night loss to the Canadens 4-3 as they were unable to complete the comeback effort. All fans coming to the game will take home a Braden Holtby action figure. The Capitals will also be wearing their third jersey.

Series flashback:
The Caps defeated the Wild 4-3 on Feb. 11 at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Alex Ovechkin got a hat trick for the 14th time in his NHL career. Nicklas Backstrom registered three assists on all three Ovi goals.

Ovechkin’s hat trick got love from famous rapper Lil Wayne that night:

Kongrats to my homie Alex Ovechkin! Leading the NHL in hat trix!! Just a beast onna ice!

— Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) February 12, 2016

Series Matchup:
This is the second and final matchup between the two teams this season. Washington is 8-8-0-1 all-time against Minnesota.

Scouting the Wild:

The Wild are just outside of the second wild card spot in the Western Conference, with a 27-23-10 mark (64 points). The Wild play the Flyers in Philadelphia Thursday night in the first game of a back-to-back road swing.

The Minnesota Wild fired coach Mike Yeo and named John Torchetti the interim replacement on February 13th, following their eighth straight loss. Since the change, the Wild have shown a remarkable turn-around, including four straight wins where they scored five goals in each of the wins. The Wild also put a thumping to the Chicago Blackhawks last weekend in the Stadium series, winning 6-1.  There is no question, a different Wild team will be at Verizon Center on Friday night.

Scouting the Capitals:
The Capitals four-game winning streak came to an end on Wednesday night at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs went up 3-0 before a goal by Jason Chimera in the second period made it a 3-1 game. Montreal would get that three goal lead right back at 12:36 in the second on a goal by Alex Galchenyuk. In the third period, the Caps rallied on goals by Dmitry Orlov and Andre Burakovsky to make it a 4-3 game with plenty of time left. However, they couldn’t get the equalizer across as they fell 4-3.

Braden Holby left the game after the third Montreal goal but despite Philipp Grubauer only allowing one goal in relief, Gruby was still credited with the loss. Even with the loss, the Capitals are still in solid control with a 44-11-4 record with 92 points. Their 44 victories are tied for the most wins through a team’s first 59 games in NHL history. The Capitals are also just one win shy from equaling last year’s win total.

Standings:

Network Information:
You can catch the game on CSN. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.

By Michael Marzzacco