Alex Ovechkin had a pair of goals and the Washington Capitals beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center.

It was the first victory for the Capitals in St. Paul in franchise history and continued the Wild's recent struggles at home.

After a scoreless first period, the Capitals got things rolling in the second when Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored less than 40 seconds apart to give Washington a 2-0 lead.

Minnesota cut the Washington lead to one in the closing seconds of the second period when Christian Folin scored his second goal of the season.

But Ovechkin answered in the third. It was his league-leading 47th goal of the season.

Jared Spurgeon pulled Minnesota within one late, but it was too little too late for Minnesota.

The Wild host St. Louis on Saturday.

Scoring Summary

2nd period: 15:25 WSH – Alex Ovechkin (46) Wrist shot – Assist: Karl Alzner (15), Matt Niskanen (21) 1-0 WSH

2nd period: 16:04 WSH – Evgeny Kuznetsov (9) Wrist shot – Assist: None 2-0 WSH

2nd period: 19:51 MIN – Christian Folin (2) Snap shot – Assist: Zach Parise (28), Mikael Granlund (24) 2-1 WSH

3rd period: 3:05 WSH – Ovechkin (47) Snap shot – Assist: Nicklas Backstrom (54) 3-1 WSH

3rd period: 14:04 MIN PPG – Jared Spurgeon (9) Tip-in – Assist: Thomas Vanek (29), Mikael Granlund (25) 3-2 WSH