Jared Spurgeon scored two goals, Connor Dewar had two assists and Filip Gustavsson made 34 saves as the Minnesota Wild recorded a 4-2 road win over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.
Jonas Brodin and Joel Eriksson Ek also scored for the Wild, who have won three consecutive games.
Spurgeon’s sixth and seventh goals of the season marked the veteran blue-liner’s seventh multi-goal game of his 13-year NHL career.
Martin Fehervary had a goal and an assist for the Capitals. Dylan Strome also scored and Alex Ovechkin had two assists.
Washington is 2-4-0 in its last six games, a slump marked by a lack of offense. The Capitals have only 13 goals in those six games and are 0-for-13 on power-play chances.
The Capitals outshot the Wild by a 36-22 margin, as Minnesota tied its fourth-lowest shots total of the season. However, Gustavsson carried his team and earned his 11th win of the season.
Washington outshot Minnesota 13-3 in the first period, with Fehervary opening the scoring at the 18:57 mark. The defenseman combined with Ovechkin on a tremendous give-and-go play that resulted in Fehervary’s fourth goal of the season.
Another nice passing play set up Strome’s tally 5:05 into the second period. However, that wasn’t enough for the Capitals to hold off the Wild, as Minnesota scored on three longer-range shots during the second frame.
At both the 0:50 and 18:15 marks of the period, Spurgeon launched shots from just inside the blue line that beat a screened Charlie Lindgren. Brodin also benefited from traffic in front of the net on his shot from the circle 13:12 into the second frame.
Though the Capitals had another lopsided shots advantage (14-5) in the third period, Gustavsson continued to deny Washington’s efforts. The goalie had a highlight-reel stop on Marcus Johansson late in the period, as Johansson’s shot through the crease was barely kicked away by Gustavsson’s skate blade.
Lindgren stopped 18 of 21 shots.
–Field Level Media
