DETROIT (AP) Alex Ovechkin’s first significant play of the night led to a goal for the other team. His pass was intercepted, and Detroit scored short-handed.
Ovechkin and the Washington power play would eventually make up for that mistake.
Ovechkin scored at 1:56 of overtime to give the Capitals a 4-3 victory over the Red Wings on Friday night. The winner came on the power play, and so did T.J. Oshie’s goal for Washington that tied it with 1:01 left in regulation.
”I had some chances in the second period, but I missed the net a couple times and he made some nice saves,” Ovechkin said. ”It felt great to get that last one. We’ve been getting scoring chances, but we just needed to put some away.”
Ovechkin drew a tripping penalty on Trevor Daley in overtime, then won it with his NHL-leading 10th goal of the season – a familiar slap shot from the left circle that beat Petr Mrazek to the glove side.
”There’s a reason he’s scored a gazillion goals in this league,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. ”He shoots it better than anybody out there. If you give him enough opportunities, they’re going to go in.”
Tomas Tatar scored twice in the third period for Detroit. His second goal came on the power play after John Carlson was called for delay of game, but Dylan Larkin was whistled for the same penalty toward the end of the period, and Oshie was able to tie it at 3 with Caps goalie Braden Holtby pulled.
Darren Helm scored a short-handed goal for the Red Wings in the second. Andre Burakovsky tied it for the Capitals in the final minute of that period, and Jay Beagle added a short-handed goal of his own in the third for Washington.
”Overall, we did a lot of good things, but we’ve got to stay the course,” Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg said. ”We’ve lost three in a row but we can’t say we’re playing badly.”
Helm opened the scoring when he intercepted Ovechkin’s pass and skated back the other way. His shot from the top of the left circle beat Holtby for the third short-handed goal allowed by the Caps this season.
Washington, which was shut out by Toronto on Tuesday night, snapped its scoreless drought when Burakovsky’s wrist shot through traffic tied the game at 1.
Beagle’s goal was set up by Alex Chiasson, whose diving clearance on the penalty kill sent his teammate in alone on a breakaway. Beagle put the puck past Mrazek for his first goal of the season.
With the Red Wings down 2-1, Larkin’s shot was going well wide when Tatar was able to redirect it past Holtby from a tough angle. Then Tatar put the Red Wings ahead with 7:15 left in the third, but Detroit couldn’t hold on.
Evgeny Kuznetsov found Burakovsky alone in front, and he cleverly moved the puck over to Oshie, who was also right around the crease. Oshie’s sixth goal of the season tied it at 3.
”I thought it was back and forth, I thought it was a good hockey game,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. ”Again, I thought we played fairly well, but we’ve got to find a way to results.”
NOTES: Detroit D Danny DeKeyser (lower-body injury) was scratched. … Red Wings D Niklas Kronwall played his 800th game and had an assist on Tatar’s second goal. … Kuznetsov’s assist on Oshie’s goal was his 12th of the season, tying him with Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos for the NHL lead. … Mrazek had 37 saves, and Holtby had 34.
UP NEXT
Capitals: Host Florida on Saturday night.
Red Wings: Host Vancouver on Sunday night.
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Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister
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