Wild find ‘boring game’ fits them just fine during point streak

WASHINGTON – The Minnesota Wild have had more exciting wins this season than their 5-1 victory against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena.

In this case, though, playing what goalie Jesper Wallstedt called “a boring game” was exactly what the Central Division-leading Wild (10-3-3) needed to withstand a push from the Capitals over the last two periods and improve to 4-0-1 in their past five games.

“I think what makes us successful and what's fun to see out there is that we never get bored by maybe sometimes playing a boring game,” Wallstedt said. “We chip it in. We get to work. We try to work in their zone. We don't start playing east-west hockey or start to force passes. We stick to what we know is working and we did that over 60 (minutes) and it felt like that gave us a good chance to win today.”

Some of the Wild’s success Sunday was familiar: scoring first for the League-leading 11th time this season, the power play producing two goals, Quinn Hughes logging big minutes (29:41) and scoring his fifth goal of the season and Kirill Kaprizov scoring into an empty net for his League-leading 15th goal of the season. And Wallstedt was, perhaps, their best player, making 26 saves to improve to 9-2-3 with a 2.06 goals-against average and .920 save percentage.

But it wasn’t just the big names that came through for Minnesota. 

Although Hughes scored to give the Wild a 1-0 lead 3:42 into the first period, it came with their fourth line of Nico Sturm, Ryan Hartman and Tyler Pitlick on the ice. Then, the third line produced the goal that made it 2-0 at 5:27 with Bobby Brink and Blake Coleman teaming to set up Michael McCarron in front for his second of the season.

“I think it's a key for any team where top players, you're relying on those guys to produce, but I think over the course of a season, game in and game out, you do need to get contributions throughout your lineup,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “The games that we've had that, we've won.”

Still, much of the goal production has come from the Wild’s top line of Kaprizov (15), Joel Eriksson Ek (five) and Matt Boldy (six). Before McCarron’s goal, only three other Wild forwards – Danila Yurov (five), Maxim Shabanov (five) and Coleman (four) had scored more than once this season.

“Our depth came through tonight, for sure,” McCarron said. “You need depth throughout the the course of the year and into the playoffs. I feel like depth guys usually help more later in the season when things get a little harder and a little bit more physical, and (opponents) are riding our top guys a little bit harder.

“But we're starting to find our way.”

After a strong first period, the Wild had to be patient and hold off the surge they knew was coming from the Capitals (8-5-0), who had won three in a row and four of their previous five. Wallstedt deserved much of the credit, making 10 saves in the second period, with only a Justin Sourdif deflection at 19:54 eluding him, and 11 more in the third.

Wallstedt stopped four shots from Alex Tuch, who entered the night with 10 goals in 12 games this season, including one with his left pad after defenseman Zach Bogosian’s giveaway with Minnesota clinging to a 2-1 lead with 5:04 remaining in the third.

“I mean, he bailed me out,” Bogosian said. “Nice tape-to-tape pass to Tuch there. But he's been great for us all year, and that's why you have a good goalie.”

Wallstedt said he was “more excited,” though, about his two saves on Alex Ovechkin, including one from close range with his glove with 4:12 left in the second period. It was the 23-year-old’s first time playing against the NHL’s all-time leader with 930 goals and he escaped without becoming the 191st different goalie Ovechkin has scored against.

“I thought that was incredible,” Wallstedt said of playing against Ovechkin. “Obviously, someone I've seen. He was drafted (in 2004) right after I was born, or something or around there, so someone I've grown up watching. So, pretty surreal to play him for the first time.”

While the Capitals were applying sustained pressure at times and Wallstedt was making key saves, the Wild had to remain patient and stick with their structure. That simple approach, though less heralded, has contributed as much to their success this season as their flashy offense and power play, which has produced 15 goals in 16 games this season.

“I think when you play to the way that we play structured, at times it can get boring, but boring is not always bad,” Bogosian said. “That means you're in the right place at the right time and when breakdowns do happen, we can kind of resolve those relatively quickly.”​

Minnesota got a chance on the power play with 3:50 remaining and converted with Shabanov scoring off Eriksson Ek’s face-off win to make it 3-1 with 2:23 left. After Wallstedt stopped Tuch on a breakaway, Kaprizov scored an empty-net goal with 58 seconds left to make it 4-1. Yurov added a 5-on-3 power-play goal with 25 seconds remaining to make the final score look deceivingly lopsided.

It was a one-goal game until that late scoring outburst, and the Wild did what they needed to remain ahead.

“The second period was ugly for us,” McCarron said. “Let's be honest, it wasn't good. … I thought we responded well in the third. When you're on the road, it's not always going to be pretty. You’ve got to find ways to win, and that's what makes good teams great."