x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

Capital Beat: Washington 5, Detroit 2

Posted on by Pete Flynn

Benjamin Franklin said “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Detroit playing another game the night after another embarrassing loss is proof that God hates us and wants us to be miserable. But, at least there’s beer!

Patrick Nemeth is back in the lineup. Alex Biega is out. The lines look like they are the same as last game, other than that one change, or until we get a few shifts into the game.

My strategy for maintaining a positive attitude is to have a series of gifs to put in the recap for each goal we give up.

This is just one of the many services I provide.

First Period

Detroit gets the first sustained zone time of the game, which leads to a couple chances. Dylan Larkin had a nice feed to Luke Glendening for a great chance in the slot, but the first line winger looked more like a 4th line player in trying to convert the chance. Weird.

The teams trade scoring chances, with neither team taking control of the period.

Kuznetsov takes a tripping penalty, and Detroit goes to the game’s first power play.

Detroit gets no shots on the power play. They had a few good setups, but the passing was too slow and sloppy. Zadina had a good setup for a one-timer that he should have shot, but he passed into the slot.

They’ll get a chance again, as Fabbri is dumped. Maybe this time will be bet—GOAL!!!!!

Dylan Larkin gains the zone, gets it to Zadina, who loses the puck, but keeps it in the zone. Larkin feeds it to Fabbri in the slot, who pulls it to his backhand and roofs it for the power play goal. Detroit takes the lead 1-0.

Scoring on the power play looked so fun that Washington decides to give it a shot. Dylan McIlrath goes off for holding with just over 5 minutes left in the period.

The scoring on the Fabbri goal has been changed to give Zadina an assist as well as Larkin. He didn’t touch the puck very much, but it did look like he did. A point is a point.

Detroit kills the penalty, keeping Washington from getting any real good scoring chances. One thing to keep an eye on is that Ovechkin was set up for part of the power play much closer to the goal line than he is normally stationed.

You’re not going to believe this, but Tom Wilson made a garbage play. He gets two minutes for kneeing Filip Hronek.

It was near the end of the first period, so there will be carryover power play time. Detroit finishes the first period without giving up a goal, and after checking the rules, it turns out that is allowed. Detroit 1, Washington 0.

Second Period

Detroit is going to waste most of their power play time after Dylan Larkin took a really bad penalty. He’d done a really good job so far this season of not taking penalties, but this was a blatant hook. Tom Wilson is out of the box, and free to run players again.

Washington shows Detroit how to move the puck around on the power play. Dylan McIlrath can’t clear the zone, and Oshie finishes off a nice passing play to tie the score at 1.

A pretty de-moralizing way to start the period.

Time to deploy the remedy:

Hronek took down Ovechkin to lead to another Washington power play and I’m looking for another gif.

Detroit survives several very good scoring chances for Washington, and the score is still 1-1 with 13:14 left in the second period.

Garnett Hathaway shoots on an odd-man rush, but it doesn’t come within spitting distance of the goal.

Nearly halfway through the game, and Detroit is being outshot 21 to 11. That’s not great.

It’s 2-1 Washington. Ovechkin took the puck around the net and shot it off Bernier before the goalie could get across.

Detroit will go to another power play. This time Washington is called for too many men on the ice. The best two chances on the power play were a shorthanded breakaway for Panik and a shorthanded odd-man rush. So yeah.

The period ends with Detroit only giving up 2 goals. 2-1 Washington.

Third Period

Valtteri Filppula had a glorious chance on a rebound, but John Carlson single-handedly prevented a goal.

Radko Gudas made a beautiful long pass (I know, right?) to a breaking Jakub Vrana. McIlrath had good pressure on the Capitals forward, and Bernier made a nice save to keep the score 2-1.

Detroit has had much more jump in this period than in the second period. Andreas Athanasiou is out for a shift with Larkin and Bertuzzi. They get a good scoring chance, so Athanasiou is replaced by Glendening again on the next shift.

Detroit nearly tied the game on a great shift by the Larkin line.

And of course Tom Wilson scores to make it 3-1.

But wait! Luke Glendening rips one off the post and in, off a great screen by Dylan Larkin.

Mike Green gets rocked into the Washington bench. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.

Bernier goes to the bench with a couple minutes left. Oshie got the puck out of the zone and Ovechkin got on the other end of it, leading to one of the easiest goals he’ll ever score.

4-2 Washington.

5-2. Ovechkin again on the empty net.

Well, the game was closer than the final score would indicate, but it’s another game with 5 goals against. Let’s close with one last Baby Yoda gif because it’s the best thing to happen to the internet in a while:

Winging It In Motown Logo
If you enjoyed this article please consider supporting Winging It In Motown by subscribing here, or purchasing our merchandise here.

Looking for an easy way to support Winging It In Motown? Use our Affiliate Link when shopping hockey merch.

Talking Points