Alex Ovechkin tallied twice in a three-point outing to carry the Washington Capitals to a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night in St. Paul, Minn.
Ovechkin, who scored twice in Washington's three-goal first period, raised his season total to 45, tying him with the Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews for the NHL's second-most. The duo trails Boston Bruins right winger David Pastrnak (47).
Richard Panik and Tom Wilson netted goals, and Evgeny Kuznetsov had two assists for Washington, which has won three of four and snapped a four-game road losing streak (0-4-0).
Goalie Braden Holtby stopped 37 of 40 shots, and forward Carl Hagelin played in his 600th game.
Minnesota's Kevin Fiala (goal, assist) and Zach Parise produced power-play tallies, Ryan Donato also scored and Alex Stalock made 26 saves for the Wild, who opened March with a loss after going 9-4-1 last month to move into the playoff race.
Ryan Suter sprung Donato on a breakaway early in the first, but Donato failed to put a shot on net as he skated past a sprawling Holtby. However, he retrieved the puck and banked in his 14th goal off the netminder from behind the net at 3:01.
With Washington on its first power play, Stalock inadvertently struck T.J. Oshie in the mouth, committing another penalty and giving the visitors a five-on-three for 1:18. Ovechkin rifled home his 13th power-play tally at 7:21 before the two-man advantage ended.
Panik took advantage of a miscue in the neutral zone and rang in his eighth off the far post at 10:28. Just 31 seconds later, Ovechkin one-timed his second of the game on a three-on-two rush for a 3-1 edge.
Fiala brought Minnesota back into it when he launched his 20th marker on the power play at 13:13 -- giving the Swiss winger his 11th goal in the last 14 games -- and the home side trimmed the deficit to 3-2 after 20 minutes.
Following a scoreless second, Ovechkin recorded his third point when he dished out the primary assist on Wilson's 21st marker, a wrister from the right circle, 40 seconds into the third to make it 4-2.
Parise scored his 23rd goal -- 12th on the power play -- at 12:53 to clip the lead to just one.
Stalock left the ice with 1:05 remaining, but the Wild failed to score with the extra skater, as Washington improved to 22-10-1 on the road.
--Field Level Media
Washington | Minnesota | |
Alex Ovechkin 3 | Points | Kevin Fiala 2 |
Alex Ovechkin 2 | Goals | Kevin Fiala 1 |
Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 | Assists | Kevin Fiala 1 |
Alex Ovechkin 1 | Power Play Goals | Kevin Fiala 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Braden Holtby .925 | Save Percentage | Alex Stalock .867 |
Braden Holtby 37 | Saves | Alex Stalock 26 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Washington | 30 | 4 | 1-2 | 2-4 | 19 | 23 |
Minnesota | 40 | 3 | 2-4 | 1-2 | 15 | 37 |