Geoff Burke — Imagn Images
WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals didn’t show up on time against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, and it cost them two points.
It took too long for Washington to find a spark, and despite an attempted comeback, D.C. fell 4-2.
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Here are the takeaways from the loss:
It was by no means an ideal start for the Capitals, who found themselves trailing early while Detroit took control of the game early.
John Leonard, older brother of Ryan struck just 1:05 minutes in, and from there, the Red Wings dominated, throwing just about everything on net. Meanwhile, they barely gave the Capitals space to break out, and when D.C. did get a chance, the defense stepped up to block or intercept their bids for offense.
It wasn’t a recipe for success, and in the second, Detroit took things to another level, with James van Riemsdyk, Trevor’s older brother, Elder Soderblom and Moritz Seider scoring in just 10:05 to make it 4-0 just halfway through the middle frame.
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None of the blame fell on goaltender Logan Thompson, who was left in unfortunate positions as Washington struggled at both ends of the ice.
With the team needing a much-needed spark, the second line of Aliaksei Protas, Tom Wilson and Justin Sourdif stepped up to spark some life into the group.
Protas streaked up ice and scored just seconds after Seider’s goal to cut things to 4-1, with Wilson snagging the primary assist. Meanwhile, Wilson had three shots and a team-leading five hits as he tried to pull D.C. into the fight.
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In the third period, that trio was the only one to stay together as coach Spencer Carbery put his forward lines in a blender, separating Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome and revamping his other combinations.
Here were his forward lines in the final 20 minutes:
Alex Ovechkin-Connor McMichael-Ivan Miroshnichenko
Aliaksei Protas-Justin Sourdif-Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier-Dylan Strome-Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Sonny Milano
It triggered some life from D.C., who started a furious rally. Martin Fehervary pulled things to 4-2 wiht a turnaround shot, and minutes later,
It was the same story for D.C., as the power play went 0-for-2 and continued to struggle with Ryan Leonard still on the shelf.
On the bright side, the penalty kill went 2-for-2 against Detroit’s red-hot man advantage.