Red Wings at Capitals
The fading Detroit Red Wings will try to recover from a demoralizing loss when they finish a quick two-game trip against the Washington Capitals on Sunday afternoon. The Red Wings were cruising along with a three-goal lead and less than seven minutes left Friday before a major penalty to Tyler Bertuzzi led to four power-play goals and eventually a 7-6 overtime loss against the New York Islanders.
“We can control one thing, that’s our actions and our attitude,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill told reporters after his team lost its third straight (0-2-1). “We can’t take a penalty at that point in the game. … It was unnecessary. The game is over. We’ve taken their life away and then we gave them life.” The Red Wings hope to stay on the fringe of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference as the Capitals continue to solidify their spot atop of the Metropolitan Division. Washington finished a sweep of a home-and-home series with Columbus on Friday with a 4-2 victory after it had dropped five of the previous seven games (2-3-2). “The special teams were good, we had some big performances from different guys and lots of commitment,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz told reporters, “and it’s a big swing in the last two games.”
TV: 3 p.m. ET, Sportsnet One, Sportsnet East, Sportsnet West, Sportsnet Ontario, TVA, FS Detroit, NBCS Washington
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (21-23-9): Captain Henrik Zetterberg enjoyed his second four-point game of the season Friday with a goal and three assists to pull within two points of Dylan Larkin (40) for the team lead. Anthony Mantha scored twice Friday to bring his team-leading total to 18 goals and set a career high, going one better than in 2016-17 - his first full season in the NHL. Right wing Martin Frk has goals in back-to-back contests after a 17-game drought, but fellow forward Andreas Athanasiou has been kept off the scoresheet in seven straight.
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (32-17-5): Evgeny Kuznetsov boasts two goals and seven assists during his six-game point streak and pushed his total to 52 overall - six behind team-leader Alex Ovechkin, who has five points in the last four contests. Defenseman John Carlson has scored in back-to-back games to pull within one of his third season with double-digit goals and first since 2014-15 when he had a career-high 12. Goalie Braden Holtby won both ends of the home-and-home set and is 9-2-1 with a 1.96 goals-against average and .928 save percentage lifetime versus Detroit.
OVERTIME
1. Washington C Lars Eller (11 goals) was signed to a five-year contract extension Saturday worth $17.5 million.
2. Detroit LW Tomas Tatar has gone eight games without a goal and was held without a shot in the last two.
3. The Capitals are 5-0-1 in the last six meetings, including a 4-3 overtime win at Detroit on Oct. 20.