Detroit – It’s now accurate to consider this weekend’s Red Wings moms’ trip a complete success.

The Wings made sure of it Sunday, back home at Little Caesars Arena, and with all the moms in a suite for themselves, with a 3-2 overtime over Washington.

Moritz Seider, building on arguably his best season of his pro career, scored with 23.3 seconds left in overtime, his sixth goal, giving the Wings the victory.

“Just the response,” said Seider, of what he liked best about Sunday’s victory. “We were a little sleepy and on our heels and we found a way to get away with it in the first (period). (Goaltender) Cam (Talbot) stepped up big and we kind of found our way into the game. Sometimes we have a tendency of falling back and being back on our heels. We did a better job, obviously.”

On the game-winning goal, Andrew Copp fed Seider, who blistered a shot past Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren.

“He did a great job of taking the forward and creating a little bit of space,” Seider said. “I was happy it went in and kind of sealed the deal.”

BOX SCORE: Red Wings 3, Capitals 2 (OT)

The Wings had squandered an earlier power play in overtime but Seider’s blast from the right hashmarks salvaged the victory.

That followed Saturday’s 5-2 win in Washington to complete a four-point weekend against one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference.

“It’s tough to beat the same team twice like that,” Talbot said. “It’s nice to put on a show for them (the mothers) like that and I’m sure they loved it.

“We did it two different ways. (Saturday) we came out hard and established our game right off the bat. Today we had to weather the storm and battled our way through to the end. You have to find different ways to win in this league.”

The Wings (21-13-3, 45 points) maintained their lead in the Atlantic Division and have won seven of their last nine games. They are 8-2-1 for the month of December, climbing to the top of the division.

Coach Todd McLellan talked after Saturday’s game about how the job was done “50 percent of the way,” but Sunday’s game would dictate how truly successful this weekend was.

Everyone has their answer now.

“We talked about it a little bit before the guys went out (for Saturday’s game),” McLellan said after Saturday’s game. “We want them to be able to look their moms in the eye and ask them what they thought, and if you don’t really leave it on the ice, it’s hard to do.”

McLellan liked the way the Wings picked up their game Sunday.

“We sure didn’t win the 10-minute game (at the start) but we found a way to win the 55-minute game after that, I guess,” McLellan said. “Not out of the gate real well, and we knew they (the Capitals) weren’t pleased with their effort (Saturday), but we stuck with it and after one (first period) we had a conversation about what we needed to do and we started to play.

“Talbs (Talbot) kept us in the game long enough that we could find our game and just stuck with it and here we are.”

Lucas Raymond (power play) and John Leonard scored goals 5 minutes, 7 seconds apart midway in the second period, erasing a 1-0 Washington lead, and Talbot (31 saves) ended a personal four-game losing streak.

Ethen Frank scored both Capitals goals.

Frank tied the game 2-2 at 10:22 of the third period, his sixth goal of the season. Frank trailed on a Capitals’ rush, got the puck in the slot, and knuckled a shot that may have caught a stick, and past Talbot.

Raymond took a pass from Axel Sandin-Pellikka near the top of the circle and whistled a shot past Lindgren, Raymond’s 11th goal and first in nine games, at 8:37 of the second period.

Raymond’s goal seemed to get the sleepy Wings going – Washington outshot the Wings 14-6 in the first period, a reversal of Saturday’s start – and ignited the Little Caesars Arena crowd.

With the Wings buzzing, they look the lead on Leonard’s second goal in two games, and third point in four games, since being recalled from Grand Rapids. Leonard, skating through the net-front area, deflected Alex DeBrincat’s shot past Lindgren at 13:44.

Talbot was a huge key in the first period, as the Capitals outplayed the Wings, then came up with consecutive saves on Jakob Chychrun and Dylan Strome in the crease area to open the third period and keep the Wings’ lead safe.

“I felt like I hadn’t necessarily been costing us games, but I was also not winning games, either,” Talbot said. “I hadn’t been making the big saves I was early on (this season). I feel like I was able to do that (Sunday) down the stretch.”

The Wings close out the pre-holiday portion of the schedule Tuesday hosting Dallas.

tkulfan@detroitnews.com

@tkulfan

Want to comment on this story? Become a subscriber today. Click here.