WASHINGTON — Jared Spurgeon scored twice in the second period, and the Minnesota Wild defeated the Washington Capitals 4-2 at Capital One Arena on Tuesday.
Jonas Brodin scored his first goal of the season, Connor Dewar had two assists, and Filip Gustavsson made 34 saves for the Wild (25-14-4), who have won three straight and are 6-1-2 in their past nine road games.
“It’s one thing we preach about on this team is that everyone can contribute, and in the [offensive] zone it’s anyone’s turn,” Spurgeon said after he and fellow defenseman Brodin accounted for three goals. “Tonight, the [defensemen] had the chances, and they were fortunate to go in.”
Video: MIN@WSH: Spurgeon puts home shot from blue line
Martin Fehervary had a goal and an assist, Alex Ovechkin had two assists, and Charlie Lindgren made 18 saves in his first game since Jan. 6 for the Capitals (24-17-6), who have lost three of four. They rallied for a 4-3 overtime win at the New York Islanders on Monday.
“There’s not much I didn’t like about it,” Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. There are things that could be a little bit better, but I thought our guys pressed and played hard the entire night.”
Spurgeon gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead at 18:15 of the second period, scoring on a slap shot through traffic to the far side from the right point.
Gustavsson preserved the lead with a save on Marcus Johansson‘s shot with 3:39 remaining in the third period.
“It came around me, and then I just looked back and I saw the puck dropping down and just kind of lifted a little bit from my foot, and I think it hit my skate,” Gustavsson said. “You need to stop it somehow. You just try and figure out how to move that part of your body and lift it a little bit.”
Johansson said, “I think it was rolling on top of his leg. I don’t know how it didn’t go in, but that’s how it goes sometimes I guess.”
Video: MIN@WSH: Gustavsson maneuvers puck for save on Sheary
Joel Eriksson Ek scored into an empty net with 54 seconds left in the third period for the 4-2 final.
Fehervary gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 18:57 of the first period. He worked a give-and-go with Ovechkin, took the return pass inside the left face-off circle and beat Gustavsson glove side with a wrist shot.
Video: MIN@WSH: Fehervary nets opening goal for Capitals
Washington outshot Minnesota 13-3 in the first period.
“We clearly didn’t start on time,” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “We talked about that this morning. They’re probably going to roll in with some momentum from what they did last night, and they did. We didn’t handle it very well. Fortunately, our goaltender did. He started on time, and we had a lot of guys that did but a lot of guys that didn’t.”
Spurgeon tied it 1-1 50 seconds into the second period when he got to a Capitals clearing attempt and his slap shot through a Jordan Greenway Screen eluded Lindgren.
Video: MIN@WSH: Spurgeon hammers a shot into the top of the net
Dylan Strome put Washington ahead 2-1 at 5:05 when he went to the net on the rush and redirected a pass from Fehervary.
Brodin tied it 2-2 at 13:12, circling the offensive zone before scoring on a high wrist shot from the top of the right circle with the help of Ryan Reaves screen.
“They took my eyes away on those goals, but I thought we again played well enough to win,” Lindgren said.
NOTES: Minnesota forward Brandon Duhaime played 10:19 and was plus-2 in his 100th NHL game. … Wild center Frederick Gaudreau won nine of 13 face-offs (69.2 percent) … Ovechkin has 33 points (17 goals, 16 assists) in 20 games against the Wild during his 18 NHL seasons. … Johansson played 14:18 and had four shots on goal in his 800th NHL game.
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