Capitals overpower Red Wings 6-3

The Washington Capitals had everything under control on home ice Thursday night. A neck n neck race ended with a three goal lead in the final minutes that gave them a 6-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings at Verizon Wireless Arena. The win for the leading Metropolitan division team gave them a fifth consecutive win overall and 12 straight victories at home.

 Detroit have a serious challenge on their hands getting back on the road again. They take on the Capital for the second time this season with their opponents carrying a strong momentum. In their last four games, Washington has won four in a row and ten consecutively at home. The leaders of the Metropolitan division have everything going for them. They beat Detroit 1-0 prior to their heavy stance in the second half of the season and would give it all they have on a daily basis. Detroit had improved on the offense with power play goals coming from their lines. Mrazek was another reason for the same consistency as his performance has been reliable despite losing games.

The Czech netminder dealt with the Washington adversity quickly to the start of the first period as they spent quality time pressing the Detroit defense. He and the Red Wings made quality blocked shots but struggled to get the puck out of their zone. When they did a play by Tomas Tatar was blocked by Capitals goaltender Brayden Holtby who stopped the redirect by defenseman Danny DeKeyser.

It was a brief scoring chance taken by Detroit before the Capitals took back control with the puck. They slowly worked into position before a play in front ended with Marcus Johansen scoring an easy goal with Mrazek laid out on the ice. It was his 18^th of the season and the team’s second shot on goal. They exploded with another eight on goal that began to overwhelm the Red Wings.

As the minutes went by and the leverage weighing heavily for Washington, Detroit’s next move had to count big. For Andreas Athanasiou, he made every attempt to make his scoring chance count. Moving around near the Capitals net, the 22-year-old got knocked around, got back up and got into play with the puck coming from Ryan Sproul. Moving around for a shot on net, the young forward found the time and scored to level the game for his 12^th. He warmed up a little more as the team won control of the puck setting up Athanasiou again. He ripped the puck on the high slot giving him two on the night with both coming just 2:53 apart.

Just when it looked like Detroit had all things going right for them, the Capitals brought them back to earth with Brett Connolly leveling the game at two all. It was their first shot in some time against the Red Wings and an important one that gave Washington a sigh of relief. They held the shots on goal ratio but suffered on winning the puck in the faceoff dot which allowed Detroit to be where they were after 20 minutes.

The Capitals wanted to get back out front and did so in the first 90 ticks of the second period with T.J. Oshie skating ahead on the play. He went in alone firing a shot in the faceoff circle that gave him a clean goal on Mrazek and his 21^st. His actions early on led Washington to dictate a large chunk of the period giving their best on home ice. The Red Wings knew that allowing Washington any more room to press the score forward in their favor. Mrazek did plenty for his defense making important saves after the Oshie goal making the third period important with a goal sitting between the two.

The Red Wings knew the mission at hand and ways to defeat Holtby in net. Detroit’s first line got to work with Anthony Mantha getting a play started with team captain Henrik Zetterberg in tow. The youngster got connected with the veteran forward who patiently waited for a backhander. His attempt came from far back but made his attempt count tying the game 1:25 into the period.

Knowing that two streaks were on the line, the Capitals made good on their goal of being winners at home and responded 4:15 into the third. It was John Carlson who got the go ahead after Oshie made the steal on DeKeyser handing Carlson his sixth. They took a ton of time off the clock holding the Red Wings from gaining any good chances to level the game again. While their work on defense panned well, the got a chance to take care of them being awarded a power play. The man advantage was just enough for Washington to gain a two-goal lead with Oshie gaining his second of the night with 5:42 left in regulation.

Three minutes remained and Detroit was left with no choice but to bring six men on and try to recover from the deficit. It didn’t work out for them as Washington got control and scored the empty netter with Nicklas Backstrom getting the credit. The final horn sounded to end Detroit’s woes in a game they let slip away. Neither goaltender had thrilling performances but the win clearly went to Holtby who made 14 saves for a .824 save percentage and his 28^th win of the year.

While they celebrate their 12^th consecutive win at home, the Red Wings will pick themselves up before heading to Columbus for an early evening matchup Saturday.