Matt Boldy scored in the second round of the shootout to lift the visiting Minnesota Wild to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday.
Boldy rebounded after hitting the post late in overtime by wristing a shot past Charlie Lindgren in the shootout. Marc-Andre Fleury preserved the win by flashing his glove to thwart Alex Ovechkin to end the game.
Ovechkin, however, scored on the power play to boost his career goal total to 871, which is 24 shy of breaking Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record.
Ovechkin beat Fleury on a snap shot from above the left circle to forge a 2-2 tie with 4:52 remaining in the second period. The three-time Hart Trophy recipient’s goal was his 28th in 47 regular-season games versus Fleury, his most against any goaltender in his career.
Tom Wilson and Martin Fehervary also scored a goal and Lindgren made 30 saves for the Capitals, who saw their four-game home winning streak come to a halt.
Minnesota’s Ryan Hartman collected a goal and an assist, Marco Rossi also tallied and Yakov Trenin converted while his team was shorthanded.
Fleury turned aside 28 shots for the Wild, who have won four of their last five games overall and improved to 6-0-1 in their last seven meetings with the Capitals.
Fehervary gave Washington a 3-2 lead at 5:34 of the third period after his slap shot from above the left circle beat a flailing Fleury, who had tripped over the skate of Minnesota defenseman Travis Dermott.
Rossi deflected a shot and cleaned up a rebound on the doorstep to level the contest with 8:41 left in the third period.
Stationed behind the net, Lindgren lost his stick while attempting to shovel the puck past a charging Trenin. The puck caromed off the body of Trenin, who skated out in front of the net for an easy conversion to give the Wild a 2-1 lead with 53 seconds remaining in the first period.
Wilson cleaned up a rebound on the doorstep to open the scoring at 10:19 of the first period, however the Wild responded 65 seconds later as Hartman deflected defenseman Zach Bogosian’s shot from the point past Lindgren.
–Field Level Media
