WASHINGTON _ The Detroit Red Wings found ways to score on the best defensive team in the NHL, but couldn't find a way to contain them.
The Wings lost, 6-3, Thursday to the Washington Capitals, who won for the 11th straight time at Verizon Center.
The Capitals entered the game with the lowest goals-against average in the league at 2.01, and having beaten each of their past two opponents, 5-0. The Wings looked like they might at least have a chance as they even had a brief lead, but they got lit up in the third period.
Andreas Athanasiou scored twice in the first period, both times set up by Thomas Vanek. Jonathan Ericsson was lost in the first period to an upper-body injury after getting hit into the boards by Nicklas Backstrom. The Capitals scored first, tied it up, and then got another lead when Petr Mrazek gave up a bad goal to make it 3-2 going into the third period.
Henrik Zetterberg made it a tie game when he took a pass from Anthony Mantha, skated by Braden Holtby and then hard-angled a backhand 1:25 into the third period. Danny DeKeyser lost the puck leading to John Carlson giving the Capitals another lead on a slap shot. T.J. Oshie scored for the second time of the night when he fired a shot through traffic and high over Mrazek. Backstrom scored into an empty net with 1:32 remaining.
The Wings came out with good jump, and Tomas Tatar set up a good shot by DeKeyser that Holtby denied. They still ended up trailing early, as a Brendan Smith turnover left Evgeny Kuznetsov to swoop in and fire a puck toward Mrazek. The puck came lose, and before Smith or Ryan Sproul could get to it, Marcus Johansson turned it into a goal, at 5:57.
Mrazek saw much more work as the Capitals rode the momentum, making quick-succession saves on Lars Eller, Brooks Orpik, Eller again, and Andre Burakovsky. At one point, the Wings were outshot, 10-1.
Quality over quantity helped the Wings get into the game. Athanasiou got the puck along the boards, circled to the middle and fired a shot high on Holtby to make it 1-1 at 13:30.
The Wings then did what they've so struggled to do this season, and got something out of a power play. Vanek won a puck battle in the slot and wired the puck to Athanasiou for a 2-1 lead at 16:23. The Capitals tied it two minutes later when Brett Connolly scored on a rebound as Mrazek couldn't get back fast enough for the save. Shots after one period were 13-6 to the Capitals.
They continued thee barrage as soon as they second period began, and Oshie made it 3-2 when he beat Mrazek on a clean shot from the right side. The Wings, on the other hand, couldn't even gain entry into the offensive zone the first handful of minutes, and were still looking for their first shot on net of the period after seven minutes.
Mantha drove the puck all the way in and tried a backhand as the Wings finally generated some offense near the midpoint. Luke Glendening had a breakaway and drew a penalty on the same play to set up a second power play, but this time nothing clicked. Mrazek caught a Justin Williams shot with three minutes to go in the second period as the Capitals reached 25 shots to Detroit's 12.
