The Washington Capitals went into last night’s game in Minnesota looking for the franchise’s first win at the Xcel Energy Center. For the first 35 minutes, it was a battle of the goaltenders as Washington’s Braden Holtby and the Minnesota Wild’s Devan Dubnyk held their opponents scoreless in a game that had playoff-brand hockey written all over it. Fortunately for the Caps, the scoreboard eventually got some action and they finally broke their pattern of losing in The Land of 10,000 Lakes.
The scoring began after Minnesota left winger Ryan Suter threw Caps right winger Tom Wilson to the ice behind the play. Wilson (the Washington’s penalty minutes leader) confronted Suter and both were sent to the box with matching minor penalties… Suter for roughing and Wilson for embellishment.
The questionable call on Wilson nullified what would have been a Capitals’ power play but on the ensuing 4-on-4, left winger Alex Ovechkin put the Caps up 1-0.
Capitals’ defenseman Karl Alzner now has a career-high 19 points after his assist on Ovechkin’s 46th goal of the season and the team has five defensemen with 15 or more assists for the first time since 1983-1984.
Play remained 4-on-4 and a bad defensive turnover in front of their own net cost the Wild just 36 seconds later when Washington center Evgeny Kuznetsov capitalized on the mistake and put the Caps up 2-0.
Both 4-on-4 goals would increase the Caps’ season total to 11 which is tied for second in the NHL.
Kuznetsov now has six points (three goals, three assists) in his last seven games.
Minnesota would get a goal back in the waning seconds of the second period.
Just a few minutes into the final period, Ovechkin scored his second goal of the game. It would be his 13th multi-goal game of the season.
Tonight was just the sixth time in 29 games that Minnesota’s Dubnyk gave up more than two goals in a game since being traded from the Arizona Coyotes.
With a 3-1 lead late in the game, the Caps would give up a power play goal to the Wild. They then survived a flurry of shots and scoring chances from the Wild as the seconds ticked down.
Holtby ended the game with 28 saves as he led the Capitals to its first win over the Minnesota Wild on the road.
The Metropolitan Division rival Pittsburgh Penguins had lost earlier in the evening. The Capitals and the Penguins are now tied for third place in the division with 88 points. If the Caps pass the Penguins, it will get Washington out of the wild card spots.
The Capitals have also put some distance between them and the Boston Bruins (83 points) for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.