The Capitals began the New Year with a home contest against the Minnesota Wild, the best road team in the NHL this season. The game was competitive and required overtime and a shootout, with the Wild taking the contest, 4-3.
Washington struck first in the middle of the opening period when Tom Wilson was right in front to put the puck in the net. However, Minnesota responded with back-to-back goals in the period to take a 2-1 lead, including one in which Charlie Lindgren misplayed the puck and let in a slam-dunk.
In the middle frame, Washington was awarded a four-minute power play following a double minor against Minnesota’s Marat Khusnutdinov for high-sticking Martin Fehervary. This led to Alex Ovechkin scoring a power play goal to tie it back up at 2-2. This was Ovechkin’s 28th goal against veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, which is the most he’s scored against any NHL goalie in his career. This was also Ovechkin’s 18th goal of the season, as well as No. 871 of his career, so he now needs only 24 more tallies to pass Wayne Gretzky.
Fehervary broke the tie to give the Caps a 3-2 lead in the third. Wilson almost had his second goal of the night to extend it to 4-2, but it was waived off due to the stick being above the crossbar. Minnesota then tied it back up at 3-3 with a Marco Rossi tally with 8:41 left in regulation.
Washington had many chances at the end of regulation, including a Jakob Chychrun shot that bounced off the post, but the game needed overtime. After a scoreless OT, Matt Boldy of the Wild scored the lone goal in the shootout, giving the Capitals the OT loss.
