Tom Wilson returned early from his player-safety suspension and scored a first-period goal, helping the Washington Capitals cool off Minnesota with a 5-2 victory on Tuesday night for the Wild’s first regulation loss at home.
Dmitry Orlov had his first two goals of the season and an assist, Andre Burakovsky and T.J. Oshie also scored and Pheonix Copley made 26 saves for the Capitals, whose four-game trip was jump-started in the morning by an arbitrator’s reduction of Wilson’s 20-game ban by six games to make him immediately eligible.
Mikko Koivu and Matt Dumba had goals for the Wild, who played at home for the first time in 17 days after a 5-2 finish on their franchise-record seven-game road swing. They fell to 5-1-2 at Xcel Energy Center, becoming the last team in the NHL to lose at home in regulation this season.
Wilson played right wing on the first line with captain Alex Ovechkin and center Evgeny Kuznetsov. He just finished serving his fourth suspension in a little more than a year, this for a blind-side hit to the head of an opponent during a preseason game.
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