National Hockey League
Washington 4, Detroit 3
When: 7:30 PM ET, Friday, October 20, 2017
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Referees: Chris Lee, Kendrick Nicholson
Linesmen: Steve Barton, Michel Cormier
Attendance: 19515

DETROIT -- The Washington Capitals were in search of secondary scoring. Both the Capitals and the Detroit Red Wings were seeking a win.

In one night, the Capitals found everything they were looking for, and the frustration continued to mount for the Red Wings.

Alex Ovechkin scored on the power play 1:56 into overtime to give the Capitals a 4-3 victory over the Red Wings.

Ovechkin hammered a slap shot into the top corner on the glove side past Wings goalie Petr Mrazek for his NHL-leading 10th goal of the season, ending Washington's three-game losing streak and extending Detroit's skid to three games.

T.J. Oshie scored his sixth of the season with 1:01 left in regulation to send the game to OT, but Washington's earlier goals came from less expected sources.

Andre Burakovsky scored in the second period and Jay Beagle had a short-handed goal in the third period. For each player, it was his first goal of the season.

"I think that's how we want to be most of the year," Oshie said. "You've got Ovi over there. He's going to get a lot of goals, but we can't rely on just him and a couple of other guys. We've got to use our depth.

"We've got players on those other two lines who can bring offense, and I think you saw it tonight."

Oshie stuffed the puck past Mrazek (33 saves) from the edge of the goal crease, also during a Capitals (4-3-1) power play, as Washington's special teams produced three of four goals.

"We have to figure out how we're going to play five-on-five," Ovechkin said.

Ovechkin's winner was set up when he cut to the net and was tripped by Detroit defenseman Trevor Daley, who spun around and clipped Ovechkin's skates with his stick.

"It's a hard call for the ref, I believe," Detroit forward Tomas Tatar said. "They call a penalty and there's nothing really we can do."

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill was more concerned about the way the play evolved than he was by the end result.

"We've got to make sure Ovechkin's not coming with that much speed, so we've got to do a better job of angling, so (Daley) isn't forced to make that type of play," Blashill said. "I didn't see a replay of it, regardless if he got him or not, it looked like something that could be called and it got called."

Tatar scored two third-period goals to put the Red Wings up 3-2. He snapped a 2-2 tie on a Detroit power play at 12:45 of the third period. He took a cross-ice feed from Henrik Zetterberg and one-timed a shot past Washington goaltender Braden Holtby (38 saves).

Tatar had pulled the Wings (4-3-1) even earlier in the period, catching Holtby by surprise when he redirected Dylan Larkin's shot high into the net at 5:24.

"Obviously, we're disappointed," Tatar said. "A few minutes to go and you are leading, you are just feeling like you are going to win this game.

"It's frustrating. I think still we are playing really good. We're doing a lot of good stuff out there and we're just hoping it's going to turn for us.

"We have to do everything right to flip that coin for us, but I think we are going in the right direction."

Darren Helm opened the scoring for Detroit with a short-handed goal in the second period.

"We lost the specialty teams battle, so that was the difference," Blashill said. "We scored a shorty, they scored a shorty; we had one on the PP, they had two, so we've got to make sure we turn that edge.

"I thought it was back and forth, I thought it was a good hockey game. I thought we played fairly well, but we've got to find a way to get results."

NOTES: Red Wings restricted free agent F Andreas Athanasiou ended his holdout and agreed to a one-year, $1.387 million deal. ... Ron Gardenhire, newly hired manager of the Detroit Tigers, was in attendance, wearing a Red Wings hat. ... Detroit D Danny DeKeyser (sprained ankle) missed his fifth straight game. D/RW Luke Witkowski was a healthy scratch. ... The Capitals were without C Tyler Graovac (upper body injury). LW Nathan Walker and D Aaron Ness were healthy scratches. ... Capitals D Christian Djoos is the son of former NHL D Par Djoos, who played 26 games for the Red Wings in 1990-91. ... Washington's Barry Trotz coached his 1,450th NHL game, surpassing Dick Irvin for sixth on the league's career games coached list.
Top Game Performances
 
Washington   Detroit
Andre Burakovsky 2 Points Tomas Tatar 2
Andre Burakovsky 1 Goals Tomas Tatar 2
Andre Burakovsky 1 Assists Mike Green 1
T.J. Oshie 1 Power Play Goals Tomas Tatar 1
Jay Beagle 1 Short Handed Goals Darren Helm 1
Braden Holtby .919 Save Percentage Petr Mrazek .902
Braden Holtby 34 Saves Petr Mrazek 37
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Washington 41 4 2-5 4-5 10 33
Detroit 37 3 1-5 3-5 10 27
Upcoming Games
  • Detroit will play their next game at home against Vancouver. The Red Wings have a W/L % of .600 after a win and .333 after a loss.
  • Washington will play their next game at home against Florida. The Capitals have a W/L % of .500 after a win and .500 after a loss.