The Detroit Red Wings lost their 5th straight game in the form of a 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Friday night, collapsing despite taking a 2-0 lead to start the 1st period.
This is a difficult time of year–between the underwhelming trade deadline to the Red Wings’ post-Four Nations Face-Off struggles–and the Red Wings have 19 games left as they prepare to battle the hated Ottawa Senators on Monday.
So this was a weird one. Detroit took the lead only 45 seconds in, when Dylan Larkin clanked a puck off Logan Thompson’s helmet, and just under seven minutes later, Moritz Seider’s power play slapper yielded a 2-0 lead…
But things fell apart in the 3rd period, with Detroit both leading 2-1 and on the power play, as the Wings gave up the first of two short-handed goals against, as Aliaksei Protas deked his way around the aforementioned Seider and chipped a puck over Cam Talbot’s glove, tying the game at 2…
And it got worse from there.
More worryingly, both Dylan Larkin (who was able to return from his injury) and Simon Edvinsson (who left halfway through the 3rd period) got “banged up” by Capitals hits, and Detroit’s going to have 5 games in 9 nights after their two-day weekend, so the Wings will hope that Larkin and Edvinsson are okay to go for Monday’s it’s-all-but-a-must-win game against Ottawa.
Our friends from Washington, who the Red Wings will visit again on April 18th, and, who are in 2nd place in the NHL standings, were able to laugh off their slow start, as they told the Washington Post’s Bailey Johnson:
Continue reading Red Wings-Capitals wrap-up: after a long and wearying day (and loss to Washington), Detroit needs to regroup