Red Wings Can’t Comeback this Time, Fall to Washington 2-0

During the last meeting between the Washington Capitals (6-2-4) and the Detroit Red Wings (7-5-2), the Wings climbed out of a 2-0 hole and ended up winning on a thrilling Dylan Larkin overtime goal. Would there be more theatrics and could Detroit win its fourth in a row?

Any chance of a fourth win was extinguished by two quick Caps goals and a suffocating defensive showing as the Wings fell to Washington 2-0.

It certainly started out similarly, with the Red Wings controlling play in the first ten minutes, but yielding after the Capitals scored two quick goals–within ten seconds of one another. Dmitry Orlov scored the first on a long that had eyes, and ten seconds later, it was Lars Eller snapping one past Thomas Greiss after a nice play by former Red Wing Nick Jensen.

The Red Wings were given a power play late in the period after a nice individual effort by Robby Fabbri. But the Red Wings still found themselves in a two goal hole going into the first intermission.

The second period opened with a chance to capitalize with 1:44 left on the powerplay but they didn’t generate much at all. Pius Suter had a great point blank chance but Zach Fucale snuffed it out.

Both teams traded chances until the Red Wings had another power play chance at the 14 minute mark of the period. But it would yield little in the way of chances and as the period neared the midway mark, Detroit was still at a 2-0 deficit.

Washington would get a 1:49 two man advantage after penalties on Moritz Seider and Filip Hronek, but they would impressively kill it off. Michael Rasmussen had a big block and then chased the puck down to burn some critical seconds off the clock. The Red Wings would again be short handed when Rasmussen went off for high sticking but they’d kill that off, though there was a close call that saw Hronek sprawl out and push the puck out of danger. The second period held the same score as the first when the horn sounded but a little cross check to Larkin got the Wings riled up before they headed off the ice.

It was more of the same in the third period–the Capitals keeping the Red Wings to the outside while playing things tight to limit stretch passes or any chance of Detroit generating scoring chances. Head coach Jeff Blashill went to the line blender, pushing Filip Zadina up with Larkin and Raymond.

But it didn’t push the needle. The Capitals collapsed into a shell, converging into the slot with any chance near the goal, and keeping Red Wings chances to the outside, with a chunk of open looks blocked by diving Capitals on the ice. Fucale would notch a shutout in his first NHL start as the Caps skated away with a 2-0 victory.

The Red Wings have their three-game winning streak snapped and will look to get back to winning ways when Montreal visits Saturday.