Brian Pothier scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Washington Capitals won their fourth in a row without Alex Ovechkin, beating the Minnesota Wild 3-1 on Friday night.
The NHL's highest-scoring team was nearly thwarted by a backup goalie who more than doubled his save total for the entire season. But Pothier's wrister from the left circle two minutes into the final period hit just inside the far post to beat Josh Harding, who was screened on the play.
Mike Green scored in the second period for the Capitals, Brooks Laich added an empty-net goal in the final minute and Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves.
Cal Clutterbuck scored for the Wild, who haven't won in Washington since Nov. 21, 2002. They are 2-9-1 on the road this season.
Caps' Knuble out 3-4 weeks
Washington Capitals right-winger Mike Knuble has a broken finger and will be sidelined three to four weeks.
Knuble was injured on a power play in the first period of Friday night's 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild. He crashed into the net when defenceman Marek Zidlicky sent him hurdling over goaltender Josh Harding.
The Capitals said Knuble would have surgery but did not say which finger was broken.
Knuble's teammate, two-time reigning NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin, is due back any day from his upper-body injury, perhaps as early as Saturday night at New Jersey.
Asked if Knuble's injury would speed up Ovechkin's return, coach Bruce Boudreau shrugged and said: "I don't know yet. I've got to talk to the powers-that-be."
Knuble has five goals and 10 assists for the Capitals this season. He was one of Washington's major off-season acquisitions, signing a two-year deal worth $5.6 million US on July 1.
Minnesota showed the effects of playing on back-to-back nights, having lost in a shootout at Tampa Bay on Thursday.
"It's not easy to get into a city at almost 4 o'clock in the morning and have to get up and play the next day," Clutterbuck said, "and play an extremely fast, skilled team that's coming off not playing the night before.
"I'm sure it had something to do with it. I'm pretty sure we gave it all we had. I don't think we held anything back. I think the guys in here are pretty exhausted."
Ovechkin has missed five games because of an upper-body injury but is expected back any day — perhaps as early as Saturday night at New Jersey — but the Capitals had been doing just fine with their two-time reigning MVP.
Harding steps up
Then they ran into Harding, who was 0-2 and had saved only 35 of the 46 shots he had faced all season. He stopped 38 of 40 Capitals shots, including several quality scoring chances.
"Josh, I thought, was tremendous," Minnesota coach Todd Richards said. "And that's what you want from your goalie. It's nice to see him off of the previous two games that he played come in and play a game like this."
Harding threw his left arm out to stop Laich from point-blank range with about five minutes to play, maintaining the one-goal deficit to give his team a chance to tie in the final minutes.
Harding ended a pair of Capitals seven-game streaks. For the first time in eight games, Washington failed to score in the first period and failed to score the game's first goal.
After a scoreless first period, Clutterbuck opened the scoring early in the second with a drive from the top of the right circle seconds after a Washington penalty expired.
Green tied the score with a one-timer from Tomas Fleischmann on a power play, making him the 11th Capitals player to score during Ovechkin's absence.
Capitals right-winger Mike Knuble was injured when he was sent hurdling over Harding and into the Wild net during a first-period power play. He skated directly to the locker-room and did not return.
