The first clash between Alex Ovechkin and Kirill Kaprizov, surpassed by the dominant night of Wild’s GREEF Squad – The Athletic

WASHINGTON — Every hockey fan knows the drill: If a defender holds the puck under the goal line for a few seconds while they’re deciding what to do with it, you boo — and you boo loudly.

Sunday night, seconds into the game between Wild and Washington Capitals, veteran defenseman Alex Goligoski settled behind Cam Talbot’s cage for what felt like an eternity. As Goligoski analyzed the ice in front of him, Capitals fans behind him began banging on the glass and thousands of others screamed and hooted at Goligoski.

Goligoski quickly silenced everyone.

Controlled breakouts like this happen half a dozen times a game. They rarely work the way they were created.

This time?

Goligoski hit Jordan Greenway with a perfect 100-foot pass, Greenway executed a nice touch pass into open space and Joel Eriksson Ek ran right in, beating defender Dmitry Orlov and hitting a breakaway after 36 seconds.

A Wild shot later, Tyson Jost scored his first goal with the Wild as Minnesota rolled into a 5-1 win at Capital One Arena during another surgical defensive effort 24 hours after conceding a goal to the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Wild have conceded 16 goals during a 9-0-1 streak. They’ve opened up a four-game journey – which now moves to Nashville and St.