Frederick Gaudreau scored a pair of goals, and the Minnesota Wild pulled away for a 4-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Matt Boldy finished with a goal and an assist for Minnesota (41-27-5, 87 points), which snapped a two-game skid. Jon Merrill added a goal.
Matt Roy and Brandon Duhaime scored one goal apiece for Washington (47-16-9, 103 points), which lost in regulation for only the second time in its past 12 games.
Alex Ovechkin tallied three shots on goal in 19:03 of ice time but did not find the back of the net. Ovechkin remained at 889 career goals, five shy of matching Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record.
Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson turned aside 28 of 30 shots to improve to 29-16-4.
Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren gave up three goals on 20 shots to fall to 16-12-3.
Boldy tallied the go-ahead goal to make it 3-2 in favor of the Wild with less than 10 seconds remaining in the second period. He scooped up a loose puck near the side of the crease and lifted it into the net.
The score remained unchanged until the final two minutes of the third period, when Gaudreau buried an empty-net goal to make it 4-2 for the Wild.
Minnesota grabbed a 1-0 lead six minutes into the first period. Wild forward Justin Brazeau set a screen in front of the crease, and Merrill fired a shot through traffic and into the net.
Washington responded 68 seconds later to even the score at 1-all. Roy followed the same blueprint as Merrill when he belted a shot through traffic and past Gustavsson.
Duhaime gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead with 11:11 remaining in the first period. He scored off a rebound that kicked out to the right circle.
The Wild pulled even at 2-all on a power-play goal by Gaudreau with 7:35 left in the second period. Gaudreau scored on a redirection off a long shot by Boldy.
–Field Level Media
