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Pominville lifts Wild over Capitals 2-1

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jason Pominville scored two third-period goals, Devan Dubnyk made 24 saves, and the Minnesota Wild rallied for a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.

Pominville tied the game with his 14th goal of the season off a scramble in front of the net at 9:19 of the period, then blasted a high shot past Braden Holtby from the left circle with 5:32 left after a Washington turnover in the neutral zone.

Holtby made 28 saves for the Capitals, who were without NHL goals leader Alex Ovechkin, who is day to day with a lower-body injury.

Zach Parise had two assists for Minnesota, which has won four straight and 15 of 18.

Curtis Glencross scored for the Capitals, his 10th of the season and first since coming to Washington from Calgary in a trade on Sunday.

The Wild have allowed just 12 goals in their past eight games.

Dubnyk has started a franchise-record 22 straight games with the Wild. He is 17-3-1 with a 1.62 goals-against average in those games.

Washington took an early lead, getting a power-play goal just 16 seconds after Thomas Vanek was sent off for high-sticking at 2:35 of the first period.

Glencross took a pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov and skated in along the right boards. He fired a shot from a tough angle and beat Dubnyk over the goalie’s shoulder.

It was only the second goal allowed by Minnesota in its past 49 times short-handed.

The Capitals nearly took a two-goal lead when Andre Burakovsky put a cross-ice pass on Marcus Johansson’s stick on a rush late in the second period, but Johansson’s shot hit the post.

In the opening minutes of the third, Johansson’s slap shot clanged off the crossbar.

Minnesota tied it after Holtby made a sliding save on Pominville, who dropped his stick. He was able to regain it as play continued and then poked the puck past Holtby during a scramble.

Scratched after missing the morning skate and pre-game warmup, Ovechkin had scored two goals in each of Washington’s past two games. He leads the league with 43 goals.

NOTES: With Ovechkin out, the Capitals recalled Burakovsky from Hershey of the AHL. . Minnesota D Jared Spurgeon (upper body) missed his seventh game. . The Capitals are 13-11-2 without Ovechkin during his career. . Minnesota had lost four straight (0-3-1) at Verizon Center. . With the loss, the Capitals are 30-2-4 when they score first, and 21-2-2 when leading after the first period.

This article was from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.