Wild score twice early and pull away from Capitals 5-1

The Washington Capitals fell behind in the first six minutes and never caught up Sunday, losing 5-1 to the Minnesota Wild at Capital One Arena.

Quinn Hughes and Michael McCarron scored in the first 5:27 for Minnesota, and the Wild held on from there, snapping a three-game run for Washington in front of 17,393.

The loss drops the Capitals to 8-5-0 (16 points) and 6-3-0 at home. Minnesota improved to 10-3-3 (23 points) and 6-3-2 on the road.

Early hole, penalty trouble

Minnesota led 2-0 after the first period and 2-1 after the second before adding three goals in the third. Kirill Kaprizov, Maxim Shabanov and Danila Yurov joined Hughes and McCarron on the scoresheet, each with a goal. Joel Eriksson Ek and Bobby Brink had two assists apiece, and Matt Boldy, Blake Coleman, Nico Sturm, Jonas Brodin and David Spacek each added one.

Special teams tilted the game. The Wild went 2 for 5 on the power play, while Washington had just one power-play chance and did not convert. The Capitals took six penalties for 20 minutes; Tom Wilson accounted for three of them and 14 penalty minutes. Minnesota was whistled once all afternoon, a Brink minor.

Justin Sourdif scored Washington's only goal, with assists from Cole Hutson and Anthony Beauvillier, in a second period the Capitals won 1-0.

In the crease

Jesper Wallstedt stopped 26 of 27 shots for Minnesota. Logan Thompson made 24 saves on 28 shots for Washington in 58:52 of work, including three on the penalty kill.

The shot totals were close, 29-27 in Minnesota's favor, and Washington actually held edges elsewhere: 24 hits to 22, and 29 faceoff wins to 22 for a 56.9 percent success rate. Pierre-Luc Dubois went 10 for 15 at the dot and Boone Jenner 7 for 10. Alex Tuch and Jakob Chychrun led the Capitals with four shots each, and Chychrun logged a team-high 27:16 with six blocked shots.

Alex Ovechkin put two shots on net and missed the target five more times, finishing minus-2. Dylan Strome had no shots on goal in 18:28.

Rookie winger Ilya Protas skated 8:44 with one shot on goal.

Hughes played 29:41 for Minnesota, the most of any skater in the game. The Wild blocked 20 shots to Washington's 18.

Standings and what's next

Washington sits third in the Metropolitan Division with 16 points, behind Carolina (26) and New Jersey (18) and level on points with the New York Islanders. Minnesota leads the Central with 23 points.

The Capitals stay home to face the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. ET.