Caps Tame Wild, 5-2

Two nights after they let a late two-goal lead slip through their collective fingers in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Jets in Winnipeg, the Capitals got another chance to make it right. The Caps carried a 2-0 lead into the third period against the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul, and they closed it out successfully, halting the Wild's 13-game home points streak with a 5-2 victory.

Washington's top line accounted for four goals, with all three members of the unit lighting the lamp, and Andre Burakovsky's end-to-end rush goal stood up as the game-winner. Philipp Grubauer made 32 saves - including 16 of them in the third period - to earn his fifth win of the season, and he also collected his first career NHL point with a secondary helper on Burakovsky's game-winner.

"We all were disappointed in the last game," says Caps center Nicklas Backstrom. "We let them back into the game with four minutes left. But today, we actually played a really good 60-minute game and were solid. We managed the puck and that was obviously important for us. It was a big win for us."

After a scoreless first frame, the Capitals took a 1-0 lead in the first minute of the second period.

From the Washington line, Dmitry Orlov sent a pass up the left wing wall to Ovechkin, who was near the Minnesota line with his back to the attack zone. Ovechkin took the pass and bumped it to Wilson, who was in motion. From the top of the left circle, Wilson released a perfect shot that nestled into the top far corner, giving the Caps a 1-0 lead at the 59-second mark of the second period.

The Caps doubled that lead just under five minutes later when Ovechkin continued his mastery of the Wild and goaltender Devan Dubnyk. Andre Burakovsky won a puck battle in the left wing corner and slid a perfect centering feed to Ovechkin, who shot the puck through Dubnyk at 5:51.

Burakovsky skated the puck from behind his own net, out of the Caps' zone along the right wing wall, through neutral ice - where he carved his way to the middle of the sheet - and into a quartet of green sweaters near the Minnesota line. He veered slightly left toward the left circle and let loose of a wrist shot from the left dot, a laser that beat Dubnyk high to the glove side for a 3-0 Washington lead at 2:29 of the third.

After the game, Burakovsky was asked what he saw on his game-winner.

"To be honest, nothing," he responds. "The only thing I was trying to do was to get the puck down in their zone, and I think they gave me a lot of room through the neutral zone.

"I don't think they had a really good gap on me, so as soon as I got by those two [defensemen] or whatever it was, I got a little bit of an angle to shoot. We do a good job of scouting goalies, and we knew that high glove was going to be his weakness, so I was just trying to get it over to that side."

The Wild scored both of its goals in the third, but Wild bench boss Bruce Boudreau thought that Burakovsky's goal was the dagger.

"The Burakovsky goal was the one that took the wind out of our sails," he says.

Nino Niederreiter spoiled Grubauer's shutout bid at 4:25 of the third period, notching the 100th goal of his NHL career on a goalmouth scramble.

Washington's penalty killing outfit came up big on a couple of kills in the middle of the period to prevent the Wild from closing to within a goal, and then Nicklas Backstrom completed the top line trifecta to restore the Caps' three-goal lead.

Ovechkin ripped a shot on goal from the high slot, and it handcuffed Dubnyk and dropped at his feet. Backstrom was right there to pick up the loose change and deposit it into the bank, making it a 4-1 game with just 4:54 remaining.

Minnesota's Eric Staal scored a power-play goal to make it 4-2 with 3:12 left in the third, but the Wild would get no closer. Wilson iced it with an empty-netter, his second goal and third point of the night, to make winners of Washington and Grubauer.

Washington's win on Thursday in St. Paul also halted the Wild's run of 13 straight home games with at least a point (10-0-3).

"We're not going to win every single game here," says Dubnyk " There are going to be games like that. I thought we played well, and that's a dangerous team if they get a little bit of room. They got a couple of breaks and that's the game. We've just got to keep playing well."

Grubauer claimed his fifth win of the season on Thursday in his first ever appearance against Minnesota.

"Today we can say thanks to Grubi," says Ovechkin. "He was outstanding, especially in the third when they make a push."

The main thing for the Caps was to rebound from Tusday's bad beat in Winnipeg, and they did so.

"I thought we did a real good job," says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "We knew about their starts, and I thought we managed the first period really well, and the second period we were better. We stayed on task. We knew what we wanted to do and we had a good game plan against them.

"I thought there wasn't any passnegers tonight. When we needed a big save, we got it. When we needed a big kill, we got it. So the group did a really good job. It was nice for Grubauer to get some run support. He has played really well for us, but we haven't given him any run support."