Jan 23, 2024; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson (32) makes a save on the wrap-around attempt of Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson (74) as forward Frederick Gaudreau (89) defends during the third period at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Nick Wosika-Imagn Images.ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild (40-27-5) hosts the Washington Capitals (47-15-9) tonight for a 6:30 game.
The Capitals are one of the hottest teams in the NHL right now and are currently sitting on top of the league standings with the best record. They are 8-1-1 in their last ten games as well.
The Wild are coming off two consecutive losses and are 4-5-1 in their last ten games. These two teams met on Jan 2, earlier this year. The Wild won that game in a shootout 4-3.
Filip Gustavsson will start in net tonight for the Wild. He is 28-16-4 on the season with a 2.47 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.
Minnesota native Charlie Lindgren will start for the Caps. He is 16-11-3 with a 2.63 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage. He is expected to have lots of family and friends in the building tonight.
Marcus Foligno will enter the lineup tonight. He had missed the previous five games with an upper-body injury.
Jonas Brodin will play his second consecutive game following his injury but Declan Chisholm will remain out tonight with a lower-body injury.
Here are tonight's projected lines (subject to change).
Wild Projected Lines
Matt Boldy - Marco Rossi - Vinnie Hinostroza
Marcus Johansson - Freddy Gaudreau - Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno - Ryan Hartman - Gustav Nyquist
Yakov Trenin - Devin Shore - Justin Brazeau
Defense:
Jake Middleton - Brock Faber
Jonas Brodin - Jared Spurgeon
Jon Merrill - Zach Bogosian
Starting Goaltender: Filip Gustavsson
Scratched: Cameron Crotty, Brendan Gaunce
Injured: Kirill Kaprizov (lower), Joel Eriksson Ek (lower), Declan Chisholm (lower).
Capitals Projected Lines
Alex Ovechkin - Dylan Strome - Aliaksei Protas
Connor McMichael - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Tom Wilson
Andrew Mangiapane - Lars Eller - Taylor Raddysh
Brandon Duhaime - Nic Dowd - Anthony Beauvillier
Defense:
Rasmus Sandin - John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun - Trevor van Riemsdyk
Martin Fehervary - Matt Roy
Starting Goaltender: Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: Alex Alexeyev, Dylan Mcllrath, Ethen Frank
Injured: Sonny Milano (upper)