Washington Capitals (24-12-4 52pts) v. Detroit Red Wings (16-20-7 39pts)
Game Recap:
To start this game, both the Washington Capitals and Detroit Red Wings would have a feeling out process for the first few minutes, but then the Capitals would get a dominate shift from their second line that would carry over to their top line the very next shift as Tom Wilson would get the Capitals on the board first after continuing sustaining the pressure in the Red Wings zone. Then both teams would continue with some back and forth until Jakub Vrana turns the puck over in the defensive zone which leads to Anthony Mantha tying the game at one for the Red Wings. Late in the period the Capitals would get a powerplay after Dylan Larkin tripped Alex Ovechkin in the neutral zone, but would do nothing with it, and will have 37 seconds of powerplay time to start the second period.
Going into the second period the Capitals looked sluggish and their powerplay time was wasted away. Also as a result of their sloppy play, the Red Wings would capitalize on a tic-tac-toe play as Filip Hronek would score his third of the season to give the Red Wings a 2-1 lead. The Capitals would then take back to back penalties in this very boring period. They would kill both penalties, and then would draw a penalty with 5 seconds left in the period.
The start of the third period was not very ideal as the Capitals could not generate on their powerplay to start the third period. However, it would be a smart play by Travis Boyd that would generate in him scoring to tie the game at 2 for the Capitals. The goal would breathe life into the Capitals and would force Niklas Kronwall to take a hooking penalty, and while the Capitals generated a few good looks, could not capitalize on yet another powerplay. The Capitals would continue the pressure and get an ugly knuckle puck goal from Michal Kempny that would hold as the game winner despite the barrage of penalties to both teams near the end of the game.
It was an ugly and boring win for the Capitals, but they ended their three game losing streak to end their road trip.
Lineups:
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly
Chandler Stephenson — Travis Boyd — Devante Smith-Pelly
Michal Kempny — John Carlson
Matt Niskanen — Dmitry Orlov
Brooks Orpik — Madison Bowey
Braden Holtby
Pheonix Copley
Scratched: Nic Dowd, Dmitrij Jaskin, Jonas Siegenthaler
Injured: Christian Djoos (leg)
Detroit Red Wings:
Gustav Nyquist — Dylan Larkin — Tyler Bertuzzi
Thomas Vanek — Frans Nielsen — Anthony Mantha
Darren Helm — Luke Glendening — Andreas Athanasiou
Christoffer Ehn — Jacob de la Rose — Justin Abdelkader
Niklas Kronwall — Filip Hronek
Nick Jensen — Dennis Cholowski
Jonathan Ericsson — Luke Witkowski
Jimmy Howard
Jonathan Bernier
Scratched: Martin Frk, Brian Lashoff
Injured: Evgeny Svechnikov (knee surgery), Danny DeKeyser (hand), Mike Green (foot), Trevor Daley (foot), Michael Rasmussen (lower body)
First Period:
Capitals Goal – 6:57 – Tom Wilson (12) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (28)
Red Wings Goal – 14:08 – Anthony Mantha (10) from unassisted
Red Wings Penalty – 18:37 – Dylan Larkin 2 minutes for Tripping
End of 1st – WAS – 1 DET – 1
Shots 13 09
Faceoffs 10 11
Hits 07 05
PP 0/0 0/0
Second Period:
Red Wings Goal – 6:47 – Filip Hronek (3) from Dylan Larkin (23) and Gustav Nyquist (26)
Capitals Penalty – 10:33 – Alex Ovechkin 2 minutes for Slashing
Capitals Penalty – 14:11 – Jonas Siegenthaler 2 minutes for High Sticking
Red Wings Penalty -19:55 – Jonathan Ericsson 2 minutes for Holding
End of 2nd – WAS – 1 DET – 2
Shots 19 19
Faceoffs 17 23
Hits 13 08
PP 0/1 0/2
Third Period:
Capitals Goal – 6:19 – Travis Boyd (4) from Alex Ovechkin (17)
Red Wings Penalty – 7:01 – Niklas Kronwall 2 minutes for Hooking
Capitals Goal – 16:08 – Michal Kempny (5) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (29) and Matt Niskanen (11)
- Failed Coach’s Challenge for Goalie Interference by Detroit
Capitals Penalty – 17:13 – TJ Oshie 2 minutes for Slashing
Red Wings Penalty – 19:30 – Andreas Athanasiou 2 minutes for Tripping
Capitals Penalty – 19:56 – TJ Oshie double minor for High Sticking
End of 3rd – WAS – 2 DET – 2
Shots 34 25
Faceoffs 25 36
Hits 20 09
PP 0/4 0/3
Next Up:
Washington (25-12-4 54pts) v. Philadelphia (15-20-6 36pts)
Detroit (16-21-7 39pts) v. Montreal (22-15-5 49pts)
