Wild win fifth consecutive game with 5-0 rout of Capitals

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Dec 16, 2025

Published in Hockey

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Wild are at their most depleted, but they sure aren’t playing like it.

Still riding the momentum from Quinn Hughes’ arrival, they dismissed Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, 5-0, on Tuesday night at Grand Casino Arena for a fifth straight win despite losing another player to injury.

Kirill Kaprizov set a franchise record for power-play goals while also moving past Mikko Koivu for the second-most goals all time for the Wild.

Vladimir Tarasenko had two goals, scoring twice off Danila Yurov assists, and Matt Boldy completed the rout with his second career short-handed goal.

Filip Gustavsson made 25 saves in his third shutout of the season and the Wild’s NHL-leading seventh, with the goaltender starting consecutive games for the second time in as many weeks.

Then there was Hughes, who continued to skate as-advertised since the blockbuster trade Friday that sent him to the Wild from Vancouver for Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren and a first-round draft pick.

Hughes factored into Kaprizov’s second-period power play goal in yet another victory for the Wild against a top-10 team that showed again just how far the Wild have come.

They were schooled 5-1 by Washington on Oct. 17 during their early-season slump, but the Wild continue to make that blip look like an anomaly — especially since they’re dominating lately while being shorthanded.

Just as Marcus Foligno returned from a knee sprain suffered Nov. 26 at Chicago, Marcus Johansson and Zach Bogosian were the latest to join the injured list, putting the Wild down six regulars before Daemon Hunt left in the first period after a collision with the Capitals’ Ethen Frank.

That forced the Wild to rely on five defensemen the rest of the game, but they held their own, especially Quinn, who logged a game-high 29 minutes, 33 seconds.

The Wild extended their point streak at home to 13 games (11-0-2).

How it happened

Hughes didn’t pick up a point on the Wild’s first goal, but he was a catalyst.

He helped the Wild enter the offensive zone, getting the puck deep before defensive partner Brock Faber and Yurov worked the play to Tarasenko for a shot from the slot that clipped Capitals goalie and Charlie Lindgren (27 saves) before flying past him at 2:09.

The 22 games the Wild have scored first trail only Washington, which has done that 23 times.

Turning point

Lindgren and Gustavsson traded breakaway saves later in the first, and the back-and-forth spilled over into the second period.

Finally, Kaprizov netted a key insurance goal at 12:51 when he backhanded a rebound from Hughes’ shot hitting Joel Eriksson Ek.

Kaprizov’s 70 power-play goals are a franchise high, and his 206 career goals are only 13 away from tying Marian Gaborik for the Wild record.

Hughes’ assist made him only the second defenseman in Wild history to post a point in each of his first two games with the team after the 26-year-old scored in his team debut Sunday night in the 6-2 romp over the Boston Bruins.

The Wild newcomer was also on the ice in the third period when Yurov sent a faceoff win to Tarasenko, who corralled the bouncing puck and wired it by Lindgren at 4:23. Three of Tarasenko’s five goals have come in the last five games.

The veteran forward turned playmaker on the Wild’s next goal, with Tarasenko dropping the puck behind him as he powered into Washington territory before backhanding it over to Yurov for the putback at 8:53.

With a goal and two assists, Yurov secured his first three-point game. Tarasenko had his second of the season, but this was his best game with the Wild after coming over in an offseason trade from Detroit.

On a second Capitals power play, Boldy broke free on the penalty kill at 14:12 to give him goals in back-to-back games.

The Wild power play went 1 for 4, and Gustavsson nabbed his 14th career shutout.

Key stat

Since Nov. 1, the Wild are 17-3-2.

What it means

Until the Wild are back to full strength, this is how they have to play to stay up in the standings: They need their leaders to set the tone and their depth to contribute.

Kaprizov had a timely goal on the power play, with Hughes putting the play in motion, but the new-look second line of Tarasenko, Yurov and Yakov Trenin was a handful.

That’s the type of lift that can sustain the Wild while they wait for their go-tos up front like Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Johansson to heal.

Up next

The Wild go on the road for one game, Thursday at Columbus, to wrap up the regular-season series vs. the Blue Jackets, who defeated the Wild, 7-4, on Oct. 11.