Niklas Backstrom stopped 21 shots, and the Minnesota Wild slowed down speedy Washington in a 2-1 victory over the suddenly punchless Capitals on Thursday night.
Chuck Kobasew got his first goal of the season and Mikko Koivu scored for Minnesota’s league-leading power play against Capitals goalie Michal Neuvirth, who wasn’t quite as good as he was in a shutout the night before.
He didn’t have much help, however. Alex Ovechkin scored with 1:36 left, snapping a five-game scoreless streak, but the Capitals were held to a season-low 22 shots on goal after posting at least 33 shots in each of the last five games.
Nicklas Backstrom’s shot with less than 6 seconds left was stopped by the other Backstrom’s glove.
The NHL’s highest-scoring team last season, the Capitals have scored four goals or more only twice in 10 games. They’re still 6-4, but their top line is missing the spark that helped them to the league’s best record last season before their stunning first-round ouster from the playoffs by Montreal.
Ovechkin was shown on camera angrily whacking his stick against the bench at one point. His linemate Backstrom scored twice in Wednesday’s win over Carolina, but coach Bruce Boudreau suggested they’ve been pressing. The Capitals hit their share of pipes in this one, including Matt Hendricks in the third period.
The Capitals, playing the second night of a less-than-convenient Carolina-Minnesota back-to-back set of road games, managed only four shots on goal in the opening period while the Wild struck first.
Kobasew, playing on Koivu’s first line with Antti Miettinen scratched because he was sick, sneaked behind Capitals defenseman John Carlson and popped a perfect cross-crease pass from Andrew Brunette from the corner into the net.
Backstrom was on his game for the Wild during a power play for the Capitals early in the second period, when he kicked out his right leg to rob Mike Knuble’s shot from the faceoff dot. With the crowd — announced at 17,352 — rather quiet for most of the night, the thud of that pad save was audible throughout the arena.
Then midway through the middle frame, Backstrom stopped his sort-of namesake by nimbly gloving a close-range shot by Washington’s Backstrom. Late in the period, Minnesota’s Backstrom caught a break when Jason Chimera’s shot clanked off the crossbar. Chimera, who beat Martin Havlat for position, fell forward on his rebound attempt and pushed both Backstrom and the puck into the net. The goal, much to Chimera’s chagrin, was immediately waved off because he was in the crease.
Then Koivu stretched Minnesota’s lead by picking up a loose puck in the slot and sending it through traffic into the net past Neuvirth, who was coming off a 29-save shutout of the Hurricanes the night before, the first of his career.
The Wild had only one power-play goal in their previous 10 opportunities, a slump that wasn’t severe enough to push them out of the league’s top spot.
Havlat, signed before last season to a six-year, $30 million contract, is scoreless in nine games. His goal total went from 29 in 2008-09 with Chicago to 18 last season, and while he insisted before the game he’s happy Havlat’s agent has been critical of the way he’s being used.
Wild coach Todd Richards declined to address the potential of a rift, describing Havlat as a being in a “big-role position” and stressed the importance of his contribution.
NOTES » Linesman Mike Cvik left his crew one man short for the first period because his equipment didn’t arrive. Thor Nelson was brought in as a replacement by the second period. … The Wild have outscored opponents 8-3 in the first period over five home games this season and 12-6 in the first 20 minutes regardless of site. … The Capitals fell to 0-5-1 all time at Xcel Energy Center. … LW Guillaume Latendresse and D Cam Barker were both scratched because of groin injuries. This was Barker’s third straight game missed.
