(Saint Paul) Kevin Fiala and Frederick Gaudreau hit the target in a shootout, and the Minnesota Wild’s reduced squad defeated the Washington Capitals 3-2 on Saturday night.
Rookie Zachary Fucale made 21 saves for the Capitals and set a new mark for the longest streak without allowing a goal to start an NHL career with 138 minutes and seven seconds. Mats Zuccarello ended the streak.
Kaapo Kahkonen repelled 29 shots and stopped two shots on goal for the Wild. Zuccarello sent the game into overtime with a goal with 34.7 seconds left in regulation time.
The Wild wouldn’t have been in this scenario if the Capitals hadn’t scored in their own net. With a delayed penalty against the Wild, goaltender Fucale headed to the bench in favor of a sixth forward. Capitals forward Carl Hagelin attempted a pass in the offensive zone, but she slipped between two of her teammates and straight into her own net.
Marcus Foligno was credited with the goal as he was the last Wild player to hit the puck. It was his 100e net in career.
Connor McMichael and Evgeny Kuznetsov hit the mark for the Capitals.
The Wild had to do without the services of nine players normally in the lineup due to COVID-19 and injuries. Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon were on the absentee list.
Fucale, a 2013 second-round pick by the Montreal Canadiens was on his second career start. He had played the third period of the previous day’s game against the St. Louis Blues when he replaced Ilya Samsonov. He had stopped the 7 shots in his direction.
He started his career with a 21-save shutout against the Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 11.
Fucale got the record three minutes after the start of the second period. He passed Matt Hackett to get his hands on the record. Hackett had held the fort for 102:48 in 2011.