Red Wings-Capitals wrap-up: Balanced scoring, poised team play overcomes explosive Capitals

The Detroit Red Wings managed to rally from a 2-0 deficit to the unbeaten Washington Capitals, eventually winning over the Caps 3-2 in overtime. Detroit now heads home to tangle with the 7-and-0 Florida Panthers on Friday, and will face the 2-4-and-1 Toronto Maple Leafs on in “Hogtown” on Saturday…

But tonight and this morning are about enjoying what the Red Wings did on Wednesday, and what the 4-2-and-1 Red Wings did was to slowly and methodically chip away at a 2-goal lead until it was a tie, to generate opportunities to score while not surrendering their tie until overtime began, and then…to pounce upon the Washington Fricking Capitals of all teams, as illustrated below:

O Captain! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/y6tdYuDaMs— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 28, 2021

The fact that the Washington Capitals’ players were somewhat shocked by what the Red Wings did to them in overtime, as noted by NBC Sports Washington’s J.J. Regan, is worth noting:

Detroit Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin hit the back of the net on Wednesday to hand the Capitals a 3-2 overtime loss, their third loss of the season. The good news is that Washington is 4-0-3 and has yet to lose in regulation, but there may be a curious trend developing. The Caps have gone to overtime three times, all at home and lost all three games.
“Must be the building,” John Carlson said.
Three games is a small sample size, but three games in a row is enough to raise the eyebrows of some that perhaps there may be an issue that needs to be addressed.
“If it happens three times in a row there’s probably some tendencies we need to look at,” Lars Eller said. “I don’t know what it is but we have the personnel and the capacity to be better than going 0-3.”
The issue on Wednesday was not hard to spot. The Caps initially gained the puck to start, but the Red Wings soon grabbed possession and maintained it for the rest of overtime, catching Washington’s forwards on the ice.
The overtime lasted 1:37. Ovechkin was on for 1:30. Kuznetsov was on the entire 1:37. He attempted to chase Lucas Raymond down as he carried the puck into the Caps’ defensive zone, but Kuznetsov simply ran out of gas and began coasting behind as Raymond passed to Larkin who scored.
“Once guys get caught out there for over a minute, now you get tired,” Eller said. “Every second that goes after that, the more tired you are the more inclined you are to make a mistake or be a second late. Everybody’s figured out at this point it’s easy to keep the puck if you wear the other team down. You don’t really look for a chance but you just wear the other team down by keeping the puck. Eventually, the other team gets tired.”

Capitals coach Peter Laviolette offered this take on Washington’s wider effort to the Washington Post’s Samantha Pell:

“There wasn’t a lot of room. There wasn’t a lot of space,” Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette said. “[The Red Wings] were able to capitalize a couple times five-on-five, and we just couldn’t get off the mark. I thought we pressed well in the third period — probably had three or four really good chances at five-on-five in the third period to win it … and couldn’t get it done.”
The Capitals had all of the momentum after Ovechkin’s power-play goal with 55 seconds left in the first period and Kuznetsov’s goal off a faceoff four minutes into the second, which also came on the man advantage. But the Red Wings kept coming.
Adam Erne got Detroit on the board a little more than five minutes after Kuznetsov’s goal. Robby Fabbri tied it at 2 with a rebound goal 2:03 into the third and Detroit continued to push, with Larkin finally beating Vitek Vanecek during three-on-three. Vanecek stopped 22 of 25 shots.
Ovechkin’s goal was his eighth and came after a strong save by the Red Wings’ Thomas Greiss. But Greiss (26 saves) couldn’t secure the rebound, and Ovechkin found the puck and beat him. It took the Capitals’ captain until his 20th game last season to notch his eighth goal.
Ovechkin moved to 738 career goals, three behind Brett Hull for fourth on the NHL’s all-time list. His chase continues Friday at home against the Arizona Coyotes.
“He’s the guy that drives the ship for us every single night, and that’s no easy feat in the NHL,” winger Tom Wilson said. “We’ll keep rallying with him. He’s playing great and definitely helps the team win games when he’s playing like that.”

Tom Wilson of all people gave the Red Wings a hearty compliment, at least in terms of the team that the Red Wings are trying to become. This is from the AP’s Stephen Whyno’s recap:

”They’re a pesky team,” Washington’s Tom Wilson said of the Red Wings. ”They’re young, they’re fast and they stuck with us.”
Making his fifth start of the season, Vanecek allowed three goals on 25 shots. Detroit’s penalty kill stopped Washington on a power play midway through the third period to help the game get to OT.
”We expect to score every single time we go out there and that’s obviously not possible, but that’s our goal,” Capitals defenseman and power-play point man John Carlson said of a unit that is 2 of its last 19.
That’s where some of Detroit’s young skill made a difference. Coach Jeff Blashill trusted Raymond – who was coming off a hat trick at Chicago – and Seider on the ice with Larkin, and they validated it by setting up the winner.
”We had them out there because we think they give us a chance to make a real good hockey play, and they did,” Blashill said. ”Both those guys have played good hockey for us, and they deserved to be out there.”

Blashill continued while speaking NHL.com’s Harvey Valentine…

“I didn’t feel any frustration or panic on the bench at all,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “We just kind of kept playing and certainly to do it, to come back and have a chance to win in overtime you need good goaltending against that team.”
The Red Wings pulled within 2-1 at 9:17 when Filip Hronek, a healthy scratch the previous two games, skated around Vanecek, fed the puck through the crease from behind Vanecek and Erne knocked it in.
“‘Fil’ sees the ice so well, he got the goalie out of the net and there’s not much I had to do,” Erne said.
Fabbri tied it 2-2 at 2:03 of the third period when he scored on the rebound of Erne’s shot.
“When we have the lead and we’re not playing our best, we’ve got to find a way to finish that game 2-0 or 2-1,” Capitals defenseman Nick Jensen said.

The Capitals couldn’t close the Red Wings out, as DetroitRedWings.com’s Brett McWethy noted, because, well…Coach Blashill offers this theory as to why the Capitals couldn’t close the Wings out:

“I think we’ve infused more talent; we have a better hockey team and so you have a better chance to come back,” Blashill said. “With that you also have more belief, and belief that you can come back in those types of situations. I didn’t feel any frustration or panic on the bench at all. We just kinda kept playing.
“Certainly, to do it, to come back and have a chance to win in overtime, you need goaltending against that team. They have a lot of talent and can make plays out of nowhere.”
…
Larkin’s game-winner came at the 3:23 mark in the extra session. He received the puck from Lucas Raymond via Moritz Seider, and patiently set up a snipe from near the left faceoff dot. The goal secured Detroit’s fifth game this season scoring three or more goals.
“That’s the difference for us, is winning these tight games,” Erne said. “These points are really gonna add up at the end of the year. We have a lot of young players that are getting used to the league, getting used to our system and just confident out there.”

Blashill and Erne continued while speaking with the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

“We’ve been in situations where we found our way to wins and that breeds confidence,” said Blashill of the early-season difference for the Wings. “That’s part of it. We have some guys who’ve matured over the years in terms of living through some of that, and as hard as those moments are hard to live, you hope you grow and a number of guys have grown through some of the difficulties we’ve faced. And we have some guys that have calm demeanors to them and just keep playing.”
Washington scored two power-play goals by Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov, as the Wings continued to struggle with inopportune penalties.
But instead of faltering, the Wings stayed with it and steadily got back in the game.
“It shows a lot of character. It’s (Washington) a highly skilled team with a lot of big names, and we just stuck with it, stuck to the game plan and eventually it paid off,” Erne said. “We’re confident in each other. We’ve had some young guys coming in, we still do, but every game and every season that goes by is huge for experience and confidence. You can see it with some of these young guys that they’re gaining a feel for the league, and I know, personally, every year that goes by I feel little bit better, a little more confidence. You know what’s going on. You know what to expect. That’s probably the case is you’re just seeing guys confident with the puck, making plays, getting used to the league and the systems.”

Also, among Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff’s “Five Takeaways“:

When Dylan Larkin scored the game-winner at 1:37 of OT he was on the ice with youngsters Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider. Raymond drew the first assist for the set-up pass. Seider also drew an assist. They rank first and second in NHL rookie scoring with eight points and six points respectively.
Seven games into their NHL career, Blashill has considerable confidence in their ability. Both rookies handled the puck with composure and purpose before Dylan Larkin ended up burying the winning shot.
“I think (these moments) are important for growth,” Blashill said. “But that’s not why we had them out there. We had them out there because we think they give us a chance to make a real good hockey play and they did.”

And this is important as well:

Filip Hronek was back in Detroit’s lineup after being benched for the past two games. Hronek played at a high level, logging a team-high 24:25 minutes. He made a nice play along the boards to set-up Detroit’s first goal by Adam Erne. Hronek had the assist, plus three shots on goal and two blocked shots. He was also +2 on the night.
Blashill never explained why Hronek was benched.
“(He) competed hard,” Blashill said. “I thought Fil played really good. I think he’s got the mental toughness to come into a situation like that, after being out for a couple of games, and play real good hockey.”

The Red Wings received contributions from up and down the lineup–and everywhere in between–and that’s what a team needs to defeat a squad as deep and dangerous as the Capitals. If the Wings can continue to learn and grow this weekend, we might be in for quite the ride.

Multimedia:

Highlights: Sportsnet posted an 8:18 highlight clip: