Boldy scores in shootout to lift Wild past Capitals after Ovechkin gets No. 871

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Minnesota Wild right wing Ryan Hartman (38) celebrates his goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

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Minnesota Wild center Yakov Trenin (13) celebrates his goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

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Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) shoots the puck as Minnesota Wild defenseman Declan Chisholm (47) defends during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

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Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates his goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

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Minnesota Wild defenseman Jon Merrill (4) and Washington Capitals right wing Tom Wilson (43) battle in front of the net during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

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Washington Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren (79) stops the puck in his jersey during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

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Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson (74) battles for the puck against Minnesota Wild center Devin Shore (19) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

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Washington Capitals right wing Tom Wilson (43) scores a goal past Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, left, during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

By STEPHEN WHYNO

WASHINGTON (AP) — Marco Rossi tied it in the third period, Matt Boldy scored the shootout winner and the Minnesota Wild rallied to beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 on Thursday night after Alex Ovechkin moved one step closer to breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record.

Rossi scored with 8:41 left in regulation, 15 seconds after a would-be goal by Washington’s Tom Wilson was disallowed for directing the puck into the net with a high stick. Boldy had the lone shootout goal.

The Wild won their first game without injured captain Jared Spurgeon, who is expected to miss 2-3 weeks after getting slew-footed earlier in the week. Yakov Trenin scored short-handed, Ryan Hartman had his first goal since Nov. 19 and Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves in regulation and overtime to help Minnesota improve to 3-1 without leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov.

Ovechkin beat Fleury for his 871st career goal, scoring on him for a 28th time in 47 games against him over the past two decades in the NHL. Wilson and Martin Fehervary had the other goals for the Capitals, while Lindgren made 30 saves but misplayed the puck to allow Trenin to score.

Takeaways

Wild: No Spurgeon, no Kaprizov, no problem. As coach John Hynes said earlier in the day, it’s about finding a way to win even with important players out, and his team has figured out how to do that.

Capitals: They played a solid game but did not handle the wave of momentum well from Wilson’s goal being waved off to Rossi scoring immediately after.

Key moment

Fleury turned aside Ovechkin in the shootout to end his final game at Washington on a high note.

Key stat

The Capitals had their first shootout of the season in their 38th game.

Up next

The Capitals host the New York Rangers on Saturday, while the Wild are at Carolina that night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl