Wild’s Tarasenko Scores Twice in 5-0 Win Over the Capitals

The Minnesota Wild hosted the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, Dec. 16, to finish out their recent four-game homestand. They had a boost to their lineup again as they got Marcus Foligno back from injury, but were still without Jake Middleton, Marcus Johansson, Vinnie Hinostroza, Zach Bogosian, Jonas Brodin, and Mats Zuccarello. Plus, they lost Daemon Hunt by the end of the game as well. The Capitals were without Ryan Leonard. 

Filip Gustavsson was in the net for his second straight start, and Charlie Lindgren was in for the Capitals. The Wild started out with the lead, and they added to it all game long. They came out with the 5-0 win, and Gustavsson earned a shutout. This moved the Wild’s record to 20-9-5 and the Capitals to 18-11-4.

Game Recap

The Wild got on the board in the first few minutes of the game as Vladimir Tarasenko scored his fourth of the season. Danila Yurov and Brock Faber assisted him. There were so many close calls for both sides, but none went through, and the Wild took the lead into the second period. 

In the middle period, the Wild added to their lead with a power-play goal from Kirill Kaprizov. He set two franchise records with that goal; he took over first place with the most goals on the power play (70), and he moved into second place with 206 career goals that surpassed Mikko Koivu. Joel Eriksson Ek and Quinn Hughes assisted him to make it 2-0. That was the only goal of the second period, and the Wild took the lead into the third. 

The Wild scored again in the final period with a goal from Tarasenko, his second of the night. Yurov tallied the lone assist for his second of the night as well and put the Wild up 3-0. Yurov scored a short time later, and Tarasenko got the lone assist to make it 4-0. Matt Boldy scored a shorthanded goal later in the period to make it 5-0. Matt Kiersted recorded the lone assist. That was the final goal of the game, and the Wild took the win, and Gustavsson got his third shutout of the season.

The Wild will head on the road for a quick one-game road trip on Thursday evening, Dec. 18, to face the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Capitals will head back home to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.