POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Wild 2, Caps 1

Missed Opportunity -The Caps were the only Eastern Conference team in action on Friday night, and as such, they had a chance to stick a psychological dagger into the teams in hot pursuit of them in the Metropolitan Division standings. A win would have increased their lead over the New York Islanders to five points with two weeks remaining in the season, and even a single point would have been welcome as all points are precious at this stage of the season.

Washington was less than eight minutes away from notching at least a single point when a turnover at the Caps' line led to Luke Kunin's go-ahead goal for the Minnesota Wild, which left town with a 2-1 victory. The Wild win ended an eight-game slide against the Caps dating back to March 5, 2015, when Minnesota also authored a 2-1 victory here in the District.
Minnesota came into town on the outside and looking in, as far as playoff positioning. Having finished a season-long five-game homestand with just one win (1-3-1), the Wild started a set of back-to-back games in Washington in dire need of a victory. Going into Friday's game, every opponent remaining on the Wild's schedule is a team in playoff position, so the degree of difficulty is high for Minnesota the rest of the way.
"I think we didn't play our best and we let a team hang around on the road," says Caps winger Brett Connolly, who scored Washington's only goal. "It just kind of came down to one chance, and they buried that chance. So not our best effort, but we've got a few more games here to go and we've got to just get better. And we know that; that wasn't our best effort."

Stymied Six - The Wild's desperation was evident from the start as they were first to most loose pucks and diligent at getting sticks and bodies into passing lanes. Washington pumped 64 shot attempts at Minnesota netminder Devan Dubnyk, but only 22 were on goal - the Wild blocked 22 tries and the Caps missed the mark 20 times as well.
Washington's top forward line of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson accounted for 18 of those attempts, getting only four on net. Ten of their tries were blocked.
The Caps' second line fared poorly as well, getting two of seven shot tries on goal. Altogether, the Caps' top six had six shots on net and missed six times while the Wild blocked 13 attempts.
"I think we didn't play our game at all," says Ovechkin. "We knew they were going to play desperate. They need points, as we [do]. But I think the sense of urgency was on their side, not on ours."
Power Outage - Washington spent six minutes of Friday's game on the power play, getting just one shot on net. That one shot came from Ovechkin's "office," but it was John Carlson who pulled the trigger after the two exchanged spots during the third of the Caps' three power play tries.
"I think we started doing some bad things," says Ovechkin. "[We were] a little maybe casual. I think we just have to simplify our game and play smarter. I think we are better than that, all of us. We know exactly what we have to do, we watch the video, but it didn't work. So get back to the basics and start from there."
Washington was 1-for-6 with the extra man on Wednesday against Tampa Bay, but the Lightning boasts the league's best penalty killing unit. In Friday's game, the lack of success with the extra man seemed to fall more on the Caps.
"I thought they played a good overall game at five-on-five," says Caps coach Todd Reirden of the Wild. "I've got to give them some credit for keeping things to the outside for the most part. They do a good job of defending.
"But on the power play, I think our execution wasn't where it needed to be in a few different areas. You get those chances and we are not able to convert on them. It turns out to be an important part of the game. They did some good things, but we have an elite group that expects to be better than that, and can be."

Streak Stopper - Minnesota had dropped eight straight against the Caps before Friday's win, and Dubnyk ended a personal six-game skid (0-5-1) against the Capitals. Ovechkin had scored against Dubnyk in seven of the nine games in which he has faced the big goaltender, but on this night, Dubnyk needed to make just a single save against the Caps' captain.
By The Numbers - Carlson led the Caps with 24:50 in ice time … Carlson and Connolly each had four shots on net to lead the Caps … Carlson and Ovechkin led Washington with eight shot attempts each … Wilson led the Caps with four hits and four blocked shots … Nicklas Backstrom won 12 of 18 draws (67 percent).