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 Two days after Ovechkin salvaged a point for the Capitals in
Detroit by scoring with seven seconds remaining in regulation, the
Capitals' 28-year-old captain was at it again on Sunday, scoring a
power-play goal 2:37 into overtime to give the Capitals a thrilling
6-5 win over the Red Wings at the Verizon Center.
Ovechkin's goal, his league-leading 39th of the season, came with
the Capitals on a 4-on-3 power play following a tripping minor on
Red Wings defenseman Brendan Smith.
Ovechkin took a cross-ice feed from Capitals defenseman John Carlson
and rifled a shot over the right shoulder of Red Wings goaltender
Jimmy Howard for the game-winner.
"Great goal. Big goal for us," Capitals coach Adam Oates said. "I
can't tell you how bad that ice is at that time of the game. It's
horrific. So for him to get good wood on it is really difficult, let
alone to find that spot."
With Sunday's win, the Capitals (25-22-9, 59 points) got within one
point of the Red Wings (24-19-12, 60 points), who moved into the
eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Capitals are now 12-9 in games that go into overtime. The Red
Wings are 6-12.
The Red Wings came back from three two-goal deficits but wasted a
hat trick by right wing Gustav Nyquist in the loss.
"We showed some good resilience," said Howard, who fell to 10-12-9.
"We found a way to come back, scraping and clawing and getting a
point. At the same time, we could've easily been walking out of here
with two points. I've got to find a way to come up with a couple
more saves for the guys."
After seeing the Red Wings rally three times, the Capitals grabbed a
5-4 lead with 4:28 gone in the third period on right winger Troy
Brouwer's 11th goal of the season.
Brouwer slipped behind the Red Wings' defense to roof a shot over
Howard. But with more than 15 minutes remaining in a back-and-forth
contest, that did not figure to be enough for the home team.
Sure enough, the Red Wings tied the score at 5-5 less than two
minutes later when left winger Justin Abdelkader finished off a
scramble in front, beating Capitals goaltender Michal Neuvirth with
a backhander for his sixth goal of the season.
Both teams generated scoring chances in the final 14 minutes of
regulation, but neither could take the lead and the two teams went
into overtime for the second straight game.
Nyquist was almost unstoppable in regulation, scoring on three of
his five shots and assisting on Abdelkader's game-tying goal in the
third period. It was his first career hat trick and his first
four-point game.
"He's always been great," said Red Wings left wing Henrik
Zetterberg, who assisted on two of Nyquist's goals. "He always
creates a lot of stuff. Now he's putting up the points, too. It's
always fun to see him score."
In addition to Ovechkin's overtime goal, the Caps received
three-point games from right winger Joel Ward (two goals, one
assist) and left winger Jason Chimera (one goal, two assists).
Defenseman John Carlson and Brouwer also scored for the Capitals,
who improved to 3-1-1 in their last five games.
"It was a lot of back-and-forth, for sure," said Ward, who matched
his career high with his 17th goal. "You have to just believe in the
process, keep encouraging each other and know it may take the full
60 minutes or overtime."
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The Capitals turned to Neuvirth after his 42-save effort Friday
night in Detroit, and he was sharp in the first half of the game,
snatching a breakaway attempt by left wing Tomas Tatar out of the
air to preserve a two-goal lead.
Chimera started his three-point afternoon by scoring his 12th goal
of the season 4:43 into the game. Rookie defenseman Connor Carrick
threw a pass into the goal crease for Ward, who shoveled the puck to
Chimera for an open-net goal.
Chimera returned the favor by setting up Ward for his first goal of
the game, a hard snap shot from the slot that beat Howard inside the
left post at the 7:20 mark.
It was the first of three two-goal leads by the Capitals in the
hockey game.
Detroit got on the board at the 11:40 mark of the first period when
Nyquist scored his first of three goals, ending the Red Wings' road
scoring drought at 194 minutes, 14 seconds.
Neuvirth made an initial save on Red Wings right winger Daniel
Alfredsson, but Nyquist pounced on the rebound for his first of the
day and second of the season on the power play.
The Caps restored their two-goal lead when Carlson netted his
career-high 10th goal of the season to make it 3-1 heading into the
second period.
At that point the Caps were 2-for-3 on the power play and looking
for a nail to hammer down the win.
The Red Wings had other ideas and Tatar again narrowed the deficit
to one goal with his 13th of the season on a nice feed from center
Riley Sheahan with 6:30 gone in the second period.
Ward was the last Capitals player back on Tatar's goal, but he made
up for his mistake just 19 seconds later when he matched his career
high with his 17th goal of the season and second of the game.
Exactly five minutes later the Red Wings' resiliency paid off again
when Nyquist netted his second of the game on a feed from Zetterberg
to send the Red Wings into the second intermission trailing 4-3.
NOTES: The Capitals were without D Mike Green (head injury) for the
second straight game. C Brooks Laich (groin) also sat out. They were
replaced in the lineup with D Tyson Strachan and C Casey Wellman.
... The Red Wings were without C Stephen Weiss (hernia), RW Johan
Franzen (concussion) and C Pavel Datsyuk (lower body). ... The
Capitals improved to 15-7-2 on Super Bowl Sundays. ... Red Wings
coach Mike Babcock and Capitals coach Adam Oates were teammates on
the 2002-03 Anaheim Mighty Ducks, along with Penguins coach Dan
Bylsma and Senators coach Paul MacLean. ... Capitals LW Martin Erat
entered the game as the only NHL player with 20 assists and no
goals. ... Red Wings RW Gustav Nyquist has eight goals in his last
seven games. ... The Capitals continue their pre-Olympic four-game
homestand Tuesday night against the New York Islanders. ... The Red
Wings return home to face the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.
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