Red Wings-Capitals quick take: collapsible team

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a 4-game losing streak while battling the Washington Capitals while playing their 2nd game in 2 nights and their 3rd in 4 evenings against the tied-for-the-league-lead Caps.

As you might imagine, the Red Wings actually started well, building a 2-0 lead on goals by Dylan Larkin and Moritz Seider, but the Capitals rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the 3rd period, scoring 2 shorthanded goals and 4 goals in 8:48, taking a 5-1 decision from the beleaguered Red Wings.

Detroit will get Saturday off and practice on Sunday before heading to Ottawa for what’s sure to be a mean and nasty affair on Monday, and then the Wings host the Sabres on Wednesday, and head to Carolina next Friday.

In pregame warmups, Cam Talbot led the Wings onto the ice at Capital One Arena…

While Logan Thompson led the Capitals out, with the “GR8 Chase” on track…

And the Capitals iced the following lineup…

While Detroit revealed its lineup just before game time:

The starters and scratches were as follows:

In the 1st period, the ceremonial faceoff included a Red Wings alumnus:

Only 43 seconds in, Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin slithered a slick shot from the side of the net in on Logan Thompson, and the puck deflected in off Thompson’s mask…

So Larkin got his 26th goal at 0:43, from Raymond, 1-0 Detroit.

6:24 into the 1st, Trevor van Riemsdyk got caught grabbing a Wing sans a stick, and he sat for holding…

And on the power play, only 36 seconds later, at 7:00, Moritz Seider blasted a glorious slap shot through a screen and through Thompson.

Seider made it 2-0 from Kane and Raymond at 7:00 of the 1st, PPG.

At 9:07, Dominik Shine dropped gloves with Brandon Duhaime, and Duhaime got the takedown, but Shine acquitted himself well…

I apologize for the sparse narration…I was attempting to help the gents from the Flying Octopus Podcast record their podcast, and we chose to recap the trade deadline during the pregame. That leaked into the game itself, and I missed the first 13 or so minutes of the 1st period.

So we’ll keep it light tonight, against my better instincts.

Anyway, Soderblom looked just fine on the Red Wings’ top line with Larkin and Raymond; as you might expect, Kasper was a duck in the water between DeBrincat and Kane, and Compher fit in much better as the team’s 3rd line center…

At 15:35, Tom Wilson was injured at center ice, and the Capitals’ fans booed the referees mercilessly as Ben Chiarot caught Wilson with a follow-through…

But that’s not a penalty in our league. It should be a penalty, but it’s not. Ask Kris Draper, who was nearly blinded by a Paul Kariya follow-through. No penalty for Kariya.

Disappointingly, Taylor Raddysh was able to get loose in the slot at 18:39, Sandin and Mangiapane set up Raddysh with a slot chance, and he got through Ben Chiarot, so Raddysh smashed the rebound through Talbot to make it 2-1.

Raddysh scored from Mangiapane and Sandin at 18:39. 2-1 Detroit.

The 1st period ended unspectacularly; Michael Rasmussen won a draw, time expired, and that was that.

In the 2nd period, the Larkin line started the period, and won the initial faceoff, but Washington was able to regroup and set up through center ice…

Washington looked sharper as the period progressed, but Detroit’s structure was strong, and while Berggren, Compher and Tarasenko weren’t elegant, they were good enough to repel the Caps.

The Caps were spending a lot of time in Detroit’s zone, however, and it took a really good shift by Soderblom, Larkin and Raymond to generate some abbreviated scoring chances, which were sustained by the Kasper line;

Talbot made a good left pad stop on a Cap at 6:20;

It was interesting to watch the Rasmussen line play opposite the Ovechkin line for a moment–and hold its own…

Raddysh got another great chance at 8:55, but Talbot made a big pad stop;

Then he stopped Mangiapane 40 seconds later, as the Capitals began to press;

At the halfway point of the game, Washington was out-shooting Detroit 5-2 on the period…

DeBrincat fanned on a gorgeous pass from Kane, and generated a shot of his own, looking for his 30th goal at 11:50;

Talbot then made a tremendous stop and seal at 12:03–on Ovechkin and Wilson;

The Caps also got a bit more physical some 13:30 into the 2nd, trying to push and shove the Red Wings around, and it worked to some extent, despite Detroit’s push-back;

Edvinsson nearly set up Shine for a goal at 15:15;

And Tom Wilson almost fought Dominik Shine before Shine went off on a change…

Again, DeBrincat threatened the Caps a bit during his shift, but the Ovechkin-Strome-Wilson line provided a challenge of its own with 3:00 left in the 2nd…

And until the 18:07 mark, the Caps’ top line continued to cycle in the offensive zone, with Chychrun and van Riemsdyk, but Detroit’s Compher line and 3rd defensive pairing persisted;

Soderblom made a fine, fine back-check on Protas with 1:35 left to prevent a would-be game-tying goal…

And the Capitals were unhappy that Dubois dumped Edvinsson with a flying knee with 41.7 left in the 2nd, yielding a tripping call against Dubois for “interference” at 19:18.

On the power play, Detroit attempted to generate a cycle, but Washington blocked Detroit once and then twice, and the final seconds of the 2nd period yielded Dylan Larkin coming back to the bench sore, and walking down the tunnel with the trainer…

In the 3rd period, Detroit began on the power play, with 1:19 remaining, and Larkin was able to take the opening faceoff and win it;

Kane, Raymond, Larkin, DeBrincat and Seider worked together, but they were forcing things a little too much, and a bad Larkin drop pass yielded a terrible shorthanded goal against as Protas skated around Seider and flickered a top shelf goal over Talbot to make it 2-2.

Protas scored from Wilson at 51 seconds of the 3rd, 2-2, shorthanded goal.

Worse, Edvinsson got checked by Protas, up came Washington, and Dubois fed Strome, back to Chychrun it went, he cycled and fired a shot through traffic to make it 3-2 Washington at 1:57.

Talbot never saw the puck with Dubois in his face, and Chychrun fired a snapper through traffic top shelf to make it 3-2 Washington at 1:57. Strome and Dubois had the assists.

As play continued, the Capitals, who are tied for the league’s best record, pushed particularly hard upon the Red Wings, and Detroit just looked like a team that had lost 4 straight games–struggling to find the resolve to push luck back onto their side.

It was hard to watch the Red Wings go from such a confident 1st period team to a shell of itself, but that’s what happens when you’re a learning team in hockey–you make mistakes, they end up in the back of your net, and sometimes, you struggle for an extended period of time…

Which the Red Wings continued to do as Protas took a neutral zone pass and flickered a boomer through Talbot to make it 4-2 at 5:17.

Protas scored from McMichael and Carlson at 5:17 to make it 4-2 Washington.

From there, the Capitals tried to start lining up Ovechkin for goals, and thankfully, Dominik Shine drew a penalty on Lars Eller with 7:53 gone in the 3rd. He sat for tripping.

On the power play, Larkin drew in, got tied up, and Washington cleared the zone with ease;

And when Detroit’s first PP unit worked the puck in deep, ultimately, Fehervary was able to block off Kane’s shot attempt;

The 2nd unit came out with 11:07 left, and Tom Wilson skated in from center ice off a terrible turnover and made it 5-2 at 9:19.

Wilson scored from Protas at 9:19. 5-2 Washington. Shorthanded.

To their credit, the Red Wings’ top line wasn’t having it, and Raymond nearly scored a 5-3 marker with 9:20 remaining, and then DeBrincat, Kane and Kasper at least gave a flying fig…

But Ben Chiarot headed to the penalty box for a wee hook at 12:01, and Washington headed to the power play. Chiarot was wearing the “A” on his jersey, too.

On the penalty-kill, we all knew that it was “Ovi’s time,” and the Capitals took the time to try and set up Ovechkin, who fired one shot wide of Talbot, a shot from his office through his legs, a third shot into Talbot and out of play with 37 left on the PP…

Johansson made a fine block on Ovechkin as well, and the power play finished up with a slot shot that was blocked away.

And the Capitals won the game 5-2, out-shooting Detroit 29-20.

Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!