Red Wings-Capitals Tweetcap: a Capitol affair yields a 5-2 Detroit victory

The Detroit Red Wings began a gauntlet of 3 games to be played over the course of 4 nights by playing against the powerhouse Washington Capitals on Saturday afternoon, kicking off a home-and-home matinee series with the Caps. Both teams began the day with 19 wins…

Detroit doesn’t do back-to-back games very well (they’re playing 3 back-to-backs over the course of the next 2 weeks), nor do they play well on national TV (both of this weekend’s Wings-Caps games air on the NHL Network, and Tuesday’s game against Dallas is a TNT exclusive), too, so the Wings face down some demons this weekend as well.

On Saturday afternoon, the Red Wings faced the Capitals and won a tremendous 5-2 effort.

John Leonard would open the scoring at only 1:05 of the 1st period, scoring his first goal as a Wing from Edvinsson and Copp. That would serve a 1st period where the Wings out-shot Washington 17-6…

1:37 into the 2nd period, James van Riemsdyk made it 2-0, and Elmer Soderblom’s deke-and-dangle made it 3-0 at 5:55;

Moritz Seider scored a really cool breakaway goal at 10:05 of the 2nd…

And while Aliaksei Protas made it 4-1 at 10:36 of the 2nd, and Martin Fehervary scored the 4-2 goal at 8:30 of the 3rd, the Wings got a favorable call when Gibson was bear-hugged by Protas at 9:41, negating a Jakob Chychrun goal (though Protas was shoved into Gibson by Ben Chiarot).

As such, the Wings prevailed in the 3rd, with Dylan Larkin scoring his 18th goal into an empty net at 17:10.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Logan Thompson led their teams out onto the ice at the Capital One Center…But on the road + the moms’ trip = no video thereof…

The Capitals posted their lines first…

And then the Red Wings posted their lineup closer to game time:

1ST PERIOD:

The teams dressed the following starters and lines:

GOAL: Simon Edvinsson pinched up the left wing side only 1:05 into the game, ripped a shot on goal, and Andrew Copp drove the net and took a jab at the rebound. John Leonard followed up Copp as a second attacker and poked the puck through Logan Thompson to score his first goal as a Red Wing.

Detroit 1, Washington 0: Leonard (1) from Edvinsson (7) and Copp (14) at 1:05 of the 1st period.

PENALTY: Dylan Larkin sat for hooking at 3:04 of the 1st period.

PENALTY: With Detroit out-shooting Washington 13-3, John Carlson tripped Larkin at 16:15 of the 1st, affording Detroit a late-period power play.

2ND PERIOD:

GOAL: Only 1:37 into the 2nd period, Moritz Seider launched a sustained cycle puck off the back boards to generate a rebound, James van Riemsdyk and Alex DeBrincat were stacked in front of the net, and JvR ripped a shot through Logan Thompson to make it 2-0.

Detroit 2, Washington 0: van Riemsdyk (8) from Seider (21) and Copp (15) at 1:37 2nd period.

GOAL: Off another good cycling play, Albert Johansson pinched up the right wing side, Marco Kasper fired the puck to Elmer Soderblom, and he was stopped once, but he went back to the net for another shot and riffled a rebound past Thompson to make it 3-0 at 5:55 of the 2nd period.

Detroit 3, Washington 0: Soderblom (2) from Kasper (2) and Johansson (4) at 5:55.

PENALTY: Axel Sandin Pellikka was tagged for cross-checking at 6:42 of the 2nd period.

GOAL: At 10:05 of the 2nd period, Moritz Seider swiped the puck from a Capital at the Wings’ blueline and raced up 2-on-0 with Elmer Soderblom. Seider blasted the puck through Thompson to make it 4-0.

Detroit 4, Washington 0: Seider (5), unassisted.

GOAL: The Capitals responded big time quickly. Aliaksei Protas charged up the Red Wings’ right wing side and simply walked through Axel Sandin Pellikka and ripped a stunner of a shot over John Gibson’s shoulder to make it 4-1 at 10:36 of the 2nd.

Detroit 4, Washington 1: Protas (12) from Wilson (17) and Sandin (8) at 10:36 of the 2nd period.

PENALTY: Tom Wilson absolutely railed Axel Sandin Pellikka at 13:08 of the 2nd period, but Protas was called for “hooking” instead. Baffling.

The Caps woke up late in the 2nd period, and began to pepper John Gibson with their own share of shots, but Gibson held firm, and Detroit escaped the 2nd period up 3 goals.

3RD PERIOD:

GOAL: At the 8:30 mark, the Capitals caught Simon Edvinsson tied up in front of the goal and Marco Kasper screening his own goaltender, so Martin Fehervary sent a shot in from distance and fired it through three Caps in the slot to make it 4-2.

Detroit 4, Washington 2: Fehervary (3) from Chisholm (3) and Strome (18) at 8:30 of the 3rd.

CHALLENGE: Washington’s Jakob Chychrun shoveled a puck into the net as John Gibson was bear-hugged by Aliaksei Protas, after Ben Chiarot shoved Protas into Gibson, and the Capitals chose to challenge the goal at 9:41 of the 3rd period.

PENALTY: The Capitals were called for delay of game at 9:41 of the 3rd period as there was NO GOAL.

GOALIE PULL: The Capitals pulled Thompson with 4:02 left in the 3rd period/at 15:58 elapsed.

EMPTY-NET GOAL: Dylan Larkin shoveled Simon Edvinsson’s pass into the empty net from about 150 feet out on the left wing half boards.

Detroit 5, Washington 2: Larkin (18) from Edvinsson (8) at 17:10 3rd period.

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!