Dmitry Orlov scored with 5:04 remaining after Alex Ovechkin scored a tying goal earlier in the period to help the Washington Capitals rally for a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Friday night.
Ovechkin got his league-leading 40th goal 4:35 into the third period on a power play, and Brooks Orpik also scored while the Capitals completed a four-game homestand with three wins.
Braden Holtby made 30 stops for Washington after he was pulled early in the second period of a loss Wednesday night to the Montreal Canadiens. All four games on the Capitals’ homestand were decided by one goal.
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Mikko Koivu and Nino Niederreiter scored for Minnesota. Koivu tied a club record by playing in his 743rd game, all with the Wild. Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves.
Orlov beat Kuemper on a weak backhander from a bad angle, sliding the puck under the goalie’s pads after a nifty between-the-legs deke to get past Niederreiter.
Niederreiter put the Wild ahead, 2-1, early in the second.
Starting goaltender Devan Dubnyk was scratched for Minnesota a day after he appeared to injure his left leg in a second-period collision at the Philadelphia Flyers, though coach John Torchetti considered the issue minor.
Ovechkin tied the score at 2-2 early in the third and just 29 seconds into Washington’s first power play of the evening. He took Matt Niskanen’s cross-ice pass and drove his slap shot from deep in the left faceoff circle between Kuemper’s blocker and right pad.
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