ST. PAUL, Minn. _ If any team was going to break the Wild's franchise-record home point streak, it probably made sense it would be the Washington Capitals.
And by Washington Capitals, read: Alex Ovechkin.
The Russian led his team to a 5-2 victory against the Wild on Thursday, snapping the home team's 13-game point streak at Xcel Energy Center in front of an announced 19,027.
"Well, I mean, I think we've got confidence when we play in this building. Washington hasn't seemed to have any problem coming into this building and being successful, though," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said before the game. "But it's a great test for us. I was just telling the guys, 'You're playing the best team in the league the last few years.' So we'll find out where we really stand after tonight."
The answer to that probably wasn't what the Wild was wanting. The team, which clings to the last wild-card spot in the West, fell to 31-20-6 while Washington improved to 33-17-7 and tops the Metropolitan division in the East.
Washington coach Barry Trotz said before the game he was expecting the Wild to come out "full throttle" in the first period, where the squad usually dominates. But that first stanza ended without a goal for either team. Meanwhile, Trotz emphasized how his team needed to put together a complete 60-minute performance, something it has struggled to do this season. With a "maturing" team.
This seemed pretty close to that. Winger Tom Wilson scored 59 seconds into the second period with assists from defenseman Dmitry Orlov and Ovechkin. Ovechkin then nabbed his NHL-leading 34th goal of the season about five minutes later, sending winger Andre Burakovsky's pass past Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk.
At 2:29 in the third, Burakovsky made it 3-0 for Washington, navigating past several Wild players after assists from winger Brett Connolly and goaltender Philipp Grubauer. But Wild winger Nino Niederreiter jabbed home his 100th career goal about two minutes later with assists from defenseman Gustav Olofsson and center Mikko Koivu to put the Wild back in it. But with fewer than five minutes left to play, Dubnyk couldn't contain a rebound from an Ovechkin shot, and center Nicklas Backstrom scored.
Both teams emphasized the importance of penalty killing ahead of the game, and that extra focus made a difference. Washington drew two power plays and the Wild managed five, but only the Wild could convert on their penultimate one when the game was pretty much decided thanks to center Eric Staal. Wilson then grabbed an empty netter soon after, with another Ovechkin assist, to seal the victory.
Dubnyk made 22 saves and endured his first regulation loss at home since Nov. 4 while Washington backup Grubauer saved 32 shots.
Ovechkin now has 25 points in 14 games against the Wild, including points in 13 of those 14 and the past 12 consecutive. Entering this game, his 1.07 goals against the Wild was his highest average against any franchise. This is also Washington's seventh-consecutive victory against the Wild.
With how tight the playoff race is in the West, Boudreau said every team in the thick of that is playing every game like Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. Washington, who had games with at Winnipeg and Chicago to bookend this meeting with the Wild, was seeing that firsthand.
"Obviously, the central Division has a lot of quality hockey teams, and they're in that mode of making sure they're playing well but making sure they're getting standings position for playoffs," Trotz said. "So you're getting everybody's A game."
