Red Wings Close 2021 with a 3-1 Loss to Washington

After nearly two weeks without playing a game, the Red Wings returned to the ice to host their annual New Year’s Eve game, this year against Washington.

Pius Suter would register the only Red Wings goal in a 3-1 loss to Washington Friday night.

The first period saw a Red Wings team that didn’t look rusty, and had a couple decent chances early on. However, Danny DeKeyser didn’t help his case with many in the fanbase when he coughed up a scoring chance choosing to pass instead of shoot. He appeared to have some room to skate in, but instead made an ill advised pass, which sent the puck the other way.

The Red Wings heavily outshot Washington 11-5 in the period but some of the chances later in the period weren’t really threatening any chance of a goal. Zadina had a split second chance but it whistled wide. The Red Wings would get a power play in the dying seconds of the first, with the majority of it heading into the second period with a scoreless tie.

Suter would do exactly that, banging home a rebound chance from Sam Gagner as the power play expired, giving Detroit a 1-0 lead. Suter kept the play alive, twirling with the puck just outside the Washington blue line and getting a zone entry that caught the kill flat footed. He shot wide initially, but Gagner corraled the loose puck, put a shot on net that was kicked back to Suter who buried it.

Washington closed the gap in the second and tied it with just over four minutes left and Evgeny Kuznetsov tied it with a snapshot past Thomas Greiss that evened it up at one. It certainly felt in the second period that the Capitals seized control as the period wore on, setting up a third where Detroit needed to skate a little more and be better with the puck. In that same period, the Red Wings looked sloppier than in the first.

Gustav Lindstrom took a penalty early in the third but the Capitals couldn’t ahem, capitalize. The Red Wings still struggled to generate anything offensively but Larkin and Raymond both had a chance with about 13 minutes left in the period, and then on the other side, Tom Wilson had a chance speared away by Greiss.

But there was this, which evoked some memories of Niklas Kronwall:

The score remained knotted when Washington got a power play with just under five minutes remaining in the contest. and it would cost them. With the power play expiring, Alex Ovechkin ripped a shot that found its way through both Gustav Lindstrom and Greiss and into the net, giving Washington a 2-1 lead.

The Red Wings, since outshooting Washington 11-5 in the first, were outshot 22-8 from that point on. Shots contained and blocked, the Red Wings couldn’t generate any offense with an empty skater, giving Ovechkin an empty net for his second of the game, and a loss to close the book on 2021.

The Red Wings will take on Boston this Sunday for a matinee game barring any protocol issues.