Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
March 19, 2015 - For some teams, there's that one opponent they can never seem to beat. In the case of the Capitals, it was the Minnesota Wild, specifically on the road. The Capitals had never won at the Xcel Energy Center, losing all seven matchups since the Wild's inception in 2000. To give an idea of the kind of games the Capitals had in St. Paul, their meeting the previous year saw the Caps outshoot the Wild 30-11 but lose 5-3 thanks in part to a hat trick from defenseman Ryan Suter. But this was a different look Caps team. The team had fully adapted to the major changes of the 2014 offseason and were playing some of their best hockey of the season. Arguably the largest factor was the stellar play of captain Alex Ovechkin. After a modest 17 goals and 30 points in the 36 games before the New Year, Ovechkin caught fire with 41 points and a ridiculous 28 goals in his first 34 games of 2015. There was no slowing down Ovi, even for a tough defensive team like the Wild. After the two teams held each other off the board in the first period Ovechkin took matters into his own hands, opening the scoring on an end-to-end rush and overpowering the Wild defenders. Personally, it's one of my favorite Ovi goals of all time, even if it's not the flashiest per se. The Great 8 would add another in the third for what would stand as the game-winning goal.
It can be hard to believe the Caps had never won on the road against the Wild given that this was the first of 6 straight wins in Minnesota for the Caps, including hat tricks in each of his next two visits, but not unlike many of their later victories, the first win was authored in large part by the Great 8.
- 1st Period -
0:00 - Intro
0:38 - Puck drop and early chance
0:54 - Hit on Vanek
- 2nd Period -
2:24 - Shot off post
3:08 - Goal 1
- 3rd Period -
4:06 - Goal 2
5:02 - Nice pass to Johansson
5:41 - Shot
5:54 - Final buzzer, Caps get first win in Minnesota
More classic Ovechkin games - youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH8bFa0t7qpQfBYEXybnEr9NbAqFcPyyq
March 19, 2015 - For some teams, there's that one opponent they can never seem to beat. In the case of the Capitals, it was the Minnesota Wild, specifically on the road. The Capitals had never won at the Xcel Energy Center, losing all seven matchups since the Wild's inception in 2000. To give an idea of the kind of games the Capitals had in St. Paul, their meeting the previous year saw the Caps outshoot the Wild 30-11 but lose 5-3 thanks in part to a hat trick from defenseman Ryan Suter. But this was a different look Caps team. The team had fully adapted to the major changes of the 2014 offseason and were playing some of their best hockey of the season. Arguably the largest factor was the stellar play of captain Alex Ovechkin. After a modest 17 goals and 30 points in the 36 games before the New Year, Ovechkin caught fire with 41 points and a ridiculous 28 goals in his first 34 games of 2015. There was no slowing down Ovi, even for a tough defensive team like the Wild. After the two teams held each other off the board in the first period Ovechkin took matters into his own hands, opening the scoring on an end-to-end rush and overpowering the Wild defenders. Personally, it's one of my favorite Ovi goals of all time, even if it's not the flashiest per se. The Great 8 would add another in the third for what would stand as the game-winning goal.
It can be hard to believe the Caps had never won on the road against the Wild given that this was the first of 6 straight wins in Minnesota for the Caps, including hat tricks in each of his next two visits, but not unlike many of their later victories, the first win was authored in large part by the Great 8.
- 1st Period -
0:00 - Intro
0:38 - Puck drop and early chance
0:54 - Hit on Vanek
- 2nd Period -
2:24 - Shot off post
3:08 - Goal 1
- 3rd Period -
4:06 - Goal 2
5:02 - Nice pass to Johansson
5:41 - Shot
5:54 - Final buzzer, Caps get first win in Minnesota
More classic Ovechkin games - youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH8bFa0t7qpQfBYEXybnEr9NbAqFcPyyq
