ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Andrew Brunette scored for the third straight game and the Minnesota Wild beat the Washington Capitals 2-1 Saturday night.
Wes Walz also scored for the streaking Wild, who have won four of five games and will soon have Marian Gaborik back in the lineup.
Gaborik, the Wild's leading scorer last season, signed a new contract with Minnesota on Friday but he was held out of Saturday's game since he hasn't been with the team all season.
The Capitals, playing for the second straight night, were sluggish until the third period when Robert Lang scored a power-play goal to bring Washington within 2-1. The Capitals lost for the eighth time in 10 games (1-8-1) and remained winless on the road (0-6-1).
Walz opened the scoring on a breakaway at 15:59 of the first period. Walz took a pass from Filip Kuba at the Capitals blue line and split the defense. He then beat goaltender Olaf Kolzig for his fourth goal of the season.
Brunette's goal came on the power play 9:13 into the second period. Christoph Brandner deflected Willie Mitchell's slap shot into Kolzig, and Brunette was waiting at the right post to put in the rebound.
All three of Brunette's goals this season have come on the power play, a unit that has scored in a team-record nine straight games.
Lang's fourth goal of the season came at 2:06 of the third period, spoiling Dwayne Roloson's shutout bid.
Notes
The Wild are the only team that Capitals forward Jaromir Jagr has never scored against. ... Capitals C Jeff Halpern played his 300th NHL game. ... The Wild concluded a streak of five straight games against Eastern Conference opponents. Minnesota is 5-1 this season against the East.
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