DETROIT–

“You know, I think we didn’t play our best game. Definitely not happy with one point. Should have had two.” Said Alex DeBrincat after the Red Wings’ 4-3 shootout loss to the Washington Capitals

DeBrincat may have been describing the team’s overall performance, but he might as well have been talking about his linemate in Patrick Kane as well. Despite Kane scoring his 1,375th  career point, he and the rest of the team didn’t seem like they were in much mood for celebration.

Forcing the issue

It was a tough start to the game with the Red Wings thinking they may have gotten an early 1-0 lead over the Capitals. However, the goal scoring review revealed that Kane, who had assisted on the would-be goal, was offsides on the zone entry, negating the goal, and his first attempt at fully breaking Mike Modano’s now former record.

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The Capitals pounced on the opportunity, outmuscling the Red Wings and taking a 1-0 lead before the end of the first period with a goal from Nick Dowd.

Ben Chiarot tied the game with a goal from between the faceoff dots in the second period with just under ten minutes left in the period, and the game would stay tied at one until halfway through the third period when Dylan Strome stole a puck out from under John Gibson’s glove and wrapped it around to make it 2-1 Washington.

Declan Chisholm made it 3-1 Washington with just five minutes left to play in regulation.

The Red Wings finally found some life with just under three and a half minutes left to play with the goalie pulled. DeBrincat,  managed to force overtime with two back to back goals just 50 seconds apart to tie things at 3. However, they were unable to win the game in overtime, and Dowd would go on to win it for the Capitals with his second goal in the shootout.

Key Moment

Head coach Todd McLellan sent a message to his team for everyone to see on ice, however, when Kane was demoted to the second power play unit after the Red Wings didn’t manage to score with the man advantage on either of their first two power plays. Chiarot scored the team’s first goal of the night after the demotion, and the message to focus on your own work and winning seemed to finally take hold towards the end of the third period with the goalie pulled.

Key Takeaways

The called-back goal seemed to fluster a Detroit team who had already spent the first five minutes of the game trying to funnel the puck to Showtime, and the issue compounded as the team desperately tried to get that point back. Said Coach McLellan, “I said this morning that we have to provide energy and enthusiasm and focus individually, but also collectively for each other so that we can push for that point.”

Key Stat

The league’s seventh best power play found itself scoreless tonight, with the Red Wings 0/4 in 5 on 4 hockey. They did however, have two goals with the man advantage thanks to DeBrincat’s late game efforts with the goalie pulled.

Up Next for Detroit

The Red Wings have their final home game before the Olympic Break in a Saturday midafternoon matchup against the Colorado Avalanche as the first part of a back to back series. Puck drop is at 1:00PM EST.