Holtby, Capitals shut out Red Wings
WASHINGTON -- Jay Beagle scored with 5:11 left in the game, Braden Holtby stopped 25 shots, and the Washington Capitals defeated the Detroit Red Wings 1-0 on Friday night.
Just moments after Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard made a nice save on Beagle in front of the net, Beagle swiped in the rebound of a Dmitry Orlov shot for his fourth goal of the season.
Holtby picked up his first shutout of the season and 24th of his career. With Howard pulled and a penalty on Henrik Zetterberg erasing the Detroit skating advantage, Holtby made a nice pad save on Gustav Nyquist with under a minute left.
Washington (11-4-2) has won the first two games of season-long five game homestand.
The Red Wings, 0-for-4 on the power play, have lost three straight and are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games.
After exploding for seven goals against the Penguins on Wednesday, the Capitals were stymied by Howard most of the night. The Detroit goalie finished with 27 saves.
The Capitals played most of the game with only three forward lines after losing T.J. Oshie, Lars Eller and Andre Burakovsky to injuries in the first period.
Washington picked up a five-minute power play when Danny DeKeyser was called for boarding at 8:29 of the first period. The Capitals came up empty as Howard made several saves and Washington's Justin Williams was called for hooking with 30 seconds remaining in DeKeyser's penalty.
The Red Wings' best chance came late in the period when Tomas Tatar took a pass behind the defense and was in alone on Holtby, but Holtby's pad save kept the game scoreless.
Including a penalty that carried over from the first period, the Red Wings had the man advantage for over five minutes in the second period, but couldn't solve Holtby.
NOTES: Red Wings D Niklas Kronwall, who sat out Tuesday's loss to Tampa Bay, returned to the lineup. ... Detroit F Thomas Vanek (hip) is expected to return to the lineup on Sunday. ... LW Tyler Bertuzzi, 21, who was called up from Grand Rapids on Thursday, started on the fourth line with C Steve Ott and RW Drew Miller. Detroit scratched D Xavier Ouellet and D Brendan Smith. ... The Capitals are one of just seven NHL teams to play seven or fewer defensemen this season, and all seven have at least one point. ... Washington scratched D Taylor Chorney and F Daniel Winnik. ... On Nov. 18, 1926, the Red Wings franchise played its first game, losing 2-0 to the Boston Bruins.