The Washington Capitals eked out a win over the Detroit Red Wings, but it didn’t really seem like they ever truly wanted the two points. Philipp Grubauer was once again fantastic, earning a shutout victory on a night where the rest of his teammates didn’t bother to show up.

The Red Wings out-shot the Caps 39 to 26 and out-attempted them at five-on-five 53 to 34.

• The big story of the night was obviously Philipp Grubauer. His 39 save shutout was his third of the season, sixth of his career, and the 39 shots the Red Wings took are the most he has faced in any of his shutouts. Studly.
• The lone goal of the game came from Brett Connolly who has once again scored 15 goals in a single season for the Capitals. For a player that seems to have a real knack for finding the back of the net he sure does get scratched a lot. Majorly confusing to me.
• Repeating a bullet from last game, the third line consisting of Connolly, Travis Boyd, and Jakub Vrana was once again criminally under-deployed at even strength. Vrana played a team low 6:07 at five-on-five.
• With their victory the Capitals (93 points) mathematically eliminated the Red Wings (65 points) from playoff contention and extended their Metro Division lead over the Penguins (89 points) to four points.
• LA Kings center Anze Kopitar had a four goal game against the Colorado Avalanche.

Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com, Hockeystats.ca, NaturalStatTrick.com, and Corsica.hockey.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Red Wings

Featured image: Dave Reginek