Photo by John McCreary/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets wrap up their season set and play their final game before the NHL’s Christmas break when they faceoff on Friday night. Washington won 5-2 at Canadian Life Centre just 12 days ago. The Capitals have taken nine straight matches at home and are 16-3-2 against Winnipeg since March 3, 2013.

Action from Capital One Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington locally or NHL Network nationally starting at 7 PM ET.

SCHEDULE

Winnipeg: close out two-game road trip, set of back-to-backs after a 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Thursday, and stretch where they play four of five (2-2-0) on the road

Washington: continue stretch where they play 10 of 16 in the nation’s capital (3-1-0 so far), end back-to-back set after beating Ottawa Senators by a score of 3-2 in overtime on Thursday

RECORDS

Winnipeg: 21-11-1/.652 points percentage – second in Central Division (first in points percentage), third in Western Conference (second); 9-6-1 on road, 13th in NHL

Washington: 18-13-4/.571 points percentage – fifth in Metropolitan Division, eighth in Eastern Conference; 10-5-1 at home, eighth

HOW EACH TEAM IS DOING

Winnipeg: 3-4-0 since Washington snapped their four-game winning streak

Washington: 8-1-0 in last nine, 11-3-1 in their last 15 since dropping nine of their previous 11 (2-6-3)

TEAM LEADERS

Winnipeg

• C Mark Schiefele (20 goals)
• D Josh Morrissey (33 assists, 39 points, 23:20 TOI/game)

Notes: Morrissey, 27, has 13 assists, 14 points over 11-game assist-/point-streak; Schiefele, 29, has five goals in his last six; LW Kyle Connor’s 10-game point-streak (10 assists, 17 points) ended in Boston but he has 20 assists, 34 points in his last 24; C Pierre-Luc Dubois has not gone scoreless in two straight games this season (did in Boston after recording six assists, seven points over three-game point-streak)

Washington

• LW Alex Ovechkin (20 goals, 38 points)
• C Evgeny Kuznetsov (22 assists)
• D John Carlson (23:39 TOI/game)

Notes: Ovechkin, 37, has 18 goals and 33 points in his last 29, including seven goals, 13 points, and four multi-point efforts in his last nine; Ovechkin also enters Friday two goals away from passing Gordie Howe (801) for second-most goals in NHL history; Kuznetsov, 30, has nine assists and 11 points over his last 10; Carlson, 32, has seven assists in his last eight; LW Anthony Mantha has two goals, seven points over his last eight; D Erik Gustafsson has a +11 rating over his last seven and four goals and six points in his last three; D Dmitry Orlov has two assists, five points, +4 rating in six games since returning from a 16-game injury absence; LW Sonny Milano has five assists, six points in his last six; D Trevor Van Riemsdyk has three goals in his last six; C Nic Dowd has three goals and five points in his last five; RW Nicolas Aube-Kubel has four assists in his last five

KEY TEAM STATS

Goals-per-game:                 WPG – 3.33 (10th)         WSH – 3.06 (T-19th)

Goals-against per game:   WPG – 2.55 (4th)            WSH – 2.83 (11th)

Power Play:                          WPG – 23.5% (11th)       WSH – 21.6% (19th)

Penalty Kill:                         WPG – 81.1% (T-6th)     WSH – 80.4% (11th)

Shots-per-game:                 WPG – 30.3 (20th)         WSH – 31.7 (16th)

Shots-against per game:   WPG – 31.6 (15th)           WSH – 30.2 (11th)

Faceoff-winning %:            WPG – 46.9% (26th)      WSH – 48.5% (22nd)

5v5 Corsi-for %:                  WPG – 49.27% (20th)    WSH – 51.12% (T-14th)

5v5 x Goals-For %:             WPG – 49.18% (21st)     WSH – 51.53% (13th)

5v5 SCF %:                           WPG – 51.59% (11th)      WSH – 51.42% (13th)

5v5 Shooting %:                  WPG – 8.74% (T-13th)   WSH – 7.73% (25th)

5v5 Save %:                          WPG – .9375 (2nd)         WSH – .9213 (11th)

5v5 PDO:                              WPG – 1.025 (1st)            WSH – .999 (T-17th)

EXPECTED STARTING GOALTENDERS

Winnipeg: David Rittich, 30 — 5-3-0, .909 save percentage, 2.55 goals-against average in eight games this season; first career start vs. Washington

Washington: Charlie Lindgren, 29 — 9-4-2, .910 save percentage, 2.71 goals-against average in 16 games this season; 29 saves (.935 save percentage) in first career start vs. Winnipeg last week

INJURIES/ILLNESSES

Winnipeg

• C Mason Appleton (upper-body, will likely miss 20th straight game, out indefinitely)
• RW Nikolaj Ehlers (sports hernia, 31st, indefinite)
• C Saku Maenalanen (upper-body, ninth, day-to-day)
• D Logan Stanley (lower-body, eighth, indefinite)
• D Nate Schmidt (upper-body, fifth, indefinite)
• RW Blake Wheeler (groin, fifth, week-to-week)

Washington

• D Martin Fehervary (lower-body, 10th, day-to-day)
• RW Connor Brown (ACL, 32nd, indefinite)
• LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 36th, indefinite)
• RW Tom Wilson (ACL, 36th, indefinite)
• C Nicklas Backstrom (hip, 36th, indefinite)
• LW Beck Malenstyn (finger, 25th, week-to-week)
• D Alexander Alexeyev (upper-body, seventh, status unknown)
• RW T.J. Oshie (upper-body, third, day-to-day)

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Winnipeg

Cole Perfetti — Schiefele — Karson Kuhlman
Connor — Dubois — Sam Gagner
Morgan Barron — Adam Lowry — Jansen Harkins
David Gustafsson — Kevin Stenlund — Axel Jonsson-Fjallby

Morrissey — Dylan DeMelo
Dylan Samberg — Neal Pionk
Brenden Dillon — Ville Heinola

Rittich
Connor Hellebuyck

Scratched: RW Michael Eyssimont, D Kyle Capobianco

Washington

Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Conor Sheary
Milano — Kuznetsov — Anthony Mantha
Marcus Johansson — Lars Eller — Aube-Kubel
Aliaksei Protas — Dowd — Garnet Hathaway

Gustafsson — John Carlson
Orlov — Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin — Van Riemsdyk

Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper

Scratched: LW Joe Snively, D Alexander Alexeyev

By Harrison Brown