For the Minnesota Wild fans waiting for someone to step up and provide an offensive spark in the midst of their non-stop injury parade, forward Matt Boldy re-introduced himself to the audience in St. Paul on Thursday.
The Wild, in desperate need of points as the Western Conference playoff race tightens, trailed Washington late in the second period when Boldy set up the tying goal and scored the go-ahead goal in a game Minnesota won 4-2 on Thursday at Xcel Energy Center.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak and gave the Wild some much-needed confidence back after they had scored just one goal in the previous two losses.
Filip Gustavsson turned in a 28-save night for his 29th win of the season, and the Wild got two Freddy Gaudreau goals — one on the power play and one into an empty net — and an early goal from Jon Merrill as they work to hold off hard-charging St. Louis in the race for the final two playoff positions.
Charlie Lindgren, the former St. Cloud State standout, had 17 saves for the Capitals, who hadn’t lost a game in regulation for two weeks. They got goals from Matt Roy and Brandon Duhaime to lead 2-1 after 20 minutes, but could not find the equalizer after Minnesota took the last lead.
The myriad fans who came to see Capitals star Alex Ovechkin and his pursuit of the NHL’s career goals record left disappointed. Ovechkin had three shots on Gustavsson, and had a mini-breakaway in the third period thwarted by Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin, who caught Ovechkin from behind and swatted the puck away.
Ovechkin left Minnesota still needing five goals to tie Wayne Gretzky’s NHL-best mark of 894.
In a touching moment after the final horn, all of the Capitals lined up to shake hands with Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who is retiring at the end of this season.
Minnesota struck first when Merrill’s shot from long distance found its way through a maze of bodies in front of the Washington net and past Lindgren’s glove hand. It was just the second goal of the season for Merrill, who has been one of the Wild’s more durable players this season.
The lead was short-lived, as Capitals defenseman Roy zipped a shot past Gustavsson just 68 seconds later. Minnesota trailed before the first period was half over, as Gustavsson stopped a shot only to have former Wild forward Duhaime pop in the rebound. The Wild coaches challenged the play for potential goalie interference, but the goal was allowed to stand and Washington was awarded a power play for the unsuccessful challenge.
With the Wild using five forwards on the power play for the first time this season, they were held without a shot on their initial man advantage of the game. But in the second period, when Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary went to the penalty box for holding, the Wild’s quintet of forwards clicked.
They tied the game when Boldy, manning the blue line, blasted a shot that deflected off Gaudreau’s stick on the way past Lindgren. Boldy then gave Minnesota the lead for a second time with 8.5 seconds left in the middle frame, corralling a Vinnie Hinostroza pass from behind the net and popping a high shot over Lindgren from just inches outside the crease.
Wild forward Marcus Foligno returned to the lineup after a five-game absence due to an upper body injury. Fourth-liner Brendan Gaunce was scratched to make room for Foligno. The Wild were also without defenseman Declan Chisholm, who missed his second consecutive game following an injury suffered in Monday’s loss at Dallas.
The Wild’s stretch of playing 10 of 11 games at home concludes on Saturday as the New Jersey Devils make their only visit of the season to Xcel Energy Center. The game is slated for 5 p.m. CT.
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