Caps 7, Red Wings 1
Not sure I saw that one coming. The Caps are playing better and better as this record early-season win streak continues. And the Red Wings were coming off a game in Columbus the night before, got into the District late and had a limited morning skate on Saturday.
But after surviving a shaky last 10 minutes in the second period thanks to taking one penalty after another, the Caps dominated. Mathieu Perreault’s late goal may have been lucky. Ty Conklin let a shot he clearly saw squib through his pads for the tap-in. But it’s all part of the grand design – as you can read in our game story here.
“We had a quote the other day from [Caps coach] Bruce [Boudreau],” defenseman Mike Green said. “’Hard work will lead to luck’. And sometimes when things aren’t going right you work hard and you get a little bit of luck on your side.”
And that was all they needed. Green scored two power-play goals and added two assists. It’s the third time he’s done that in his career and the first time since Dec. 5, 2009 in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Meanwhile, Perreault continues to lead a productive fourth line with his third goal of the season. Left wing Matt Hendricks and right wing Jeff Halpern have yet to score. But Hendricks has three assists now and Halpern has two after they hooked up on Perreault’s second goal at 11:19 of the third period to make it 6-1 Washington. By then a few thousand Red Wings fans were fleeing Verizon Center in droves as everyone else in red celebrated what’s been a dream start to the 2011-12 season.
“I thought the third and fourth lines, for the most part, have been the difference makers in most games,” Boudreau said.
Indeed, the third line of Jason Chimera–Brooks Laich–Joel Ward was on the ice early and often against Detroit’s top line of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Danny Cleary. They weren’t perfect. There was a shift in the second period where the big guns had their way with Washington’s checking line and Tomas Vokoun helped bail them out. But in all Chimera-Laich-Ward took 18 shifts against that trio as both coaching staffs tried to play the match-up game.
They got away from it during Detroit’s power plays in the second period. But even if you include special teams, Laich took 25 shifts total, Chimera 22 and Ward 21. The Red Wings’ trio went for 24 for both Datsyuk and Cleary and 23 for Zetterberg. At even strength they were a combined -3. And they were on the ice at 8:17 of the third period when Laich stripped defenseman Brad Stuart and threaded a pretty pass to Ward on the right side for an easy goal.
It was that kind of night for Detroit, which dominated possession for the first 10 minutes and had a good second period. But the Red Wings couldn’t finish their chances. And the Caps were ruthlessly efficient thanks in part to Conklin’s shaky play in goal. They scored on three of their first nine shots, four of 13 and six of 20. Washington managed just 25 all game yet dominated on the scoreboard.
“Coulda, woulda, shoulda [but] it was 7-1,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “When you wake up tomorrow, it’s 7-1. The bottom line is two teams came here that both thought they were good and tonight they were better than us. That’s just the way it is.”
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