Minnesota Wild skate to narrow victory over the Washington Capitals
Sometimes, the best wins in the National Hockey Leagues are those that are hard-fought. They don’t often feature very many goals, but they do feature grinding and hard work. And the Minnesota
Wild worked hard against the Washington Capitals, with the result being a close 2-1 win.
How it happened
Chuck Kobasew drew the first blood for the Wild, who were coming off of back-to-back losses. He fired a wrist shot that found its way past Michal Neuvirth at 7:48 of the opening period.
The assists went to Andrew Brunette and Clayton Stoner.
The home team made it a 2-0 game with a power play snap shot from captain Mikko Koivu in the second period. The goal came with just 16 second remaining in the second period, with Matt
Cullen and Marek Zidlicky picking up the assists.
In the third period, the visiting Capitals tried to mount a comeback, with captain Alex Ovechkin using a wrist shot to beat Niklas Backstrom of the Wild at 18:24. Defenceman Mike Green
earned the lone assist on Ovechkin’s goal However, it was too little too late for the Caps, as the Koivu’s goal proved to be the game-winner for the Wild.
Niklas Backstrom finished the night with 21 saves in the Minnesota net, one of which was on a shot from Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom. Neuvirth, who earned a shutout in his last start,
made 15 saves to pick up the loss.
What they’re saying
Post-game, Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau was not happy with team’s effort, stating that they did not compete for most of the game.
“It was a really disappointing effort, I thought, from our team for about 50 minutes."
Boudreau added that the team’s playing schedule was no excuse for their lack of effort in the game.
“I’m not buying any of this excuse about being fatigued, emotionally or physically. So I’m just not very happy with what happened.”
Ovechkin also showed his frustration after the game, as he believed that the Caps “...didn't shoot the puck. We didn't hit their guys. We didn't finish our shots.”
Backstrom was outstanding in net for Minnesota, but he was quick to shrug off his play.
“For a goalie, a shot on net is a shot on net, so you’ve got to find a way to stop it."
Wild head coach Todd Richards added that he was satisfied with his team’s performance, and found it easy to coach them.
“It was actually pretty easy to coach tonight as far as putting guys on the ice. Guys were flying around.”
Both teams will return to the ice on Saturday, 30 October. Minnesota will play the Chicago Blackhawks, while Washington will visit the Calgary Flames.
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