The Washington Capitals with a 3-1 defeat of the Detroit Red Wings are currently riding a season long, four game winning streak. All four of those wins have come without Evgeny Kuznetsov and TJ Oshie in the lineup.
The Red Wings out-shot the Caps 32 to 20 and out-attempted them at five-on-five 51 to 38.
- In my opinion, this game shared a lot of similarities with the Caps last fixture against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Wings created a few more dangerous rush chances with their elite speed, but otherwise a ton of their “offense” in this game came from harmless point drives and shots that Braden Holtby isn’t going to have any trouble with even on his worst day. I liked this Caps effort, especially in the neutral zone, despite what most of the numbers from this game say.
- Another goal for Tom Wilson and another multi point night. Eight points in six games for the top line winger riding shotgun next to Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. Wilson is now tenth on the team in scoring despite only playing in six games.
- Braden Holtby has a .953 save percentage over his last six appearances and has only allowed 9 goals in those games. Holts is getting in quite the groove, knock on wood.
- I want to give a shoutout to Andre Burakovsky who I thought was one of the Caps strongest skaters in this game. Andre was moving his legs well all evening and was probably unlucky to not get on the scoresheet with a goal. His assist on Michal Kempny’s goal was his third of the season.
- In non NHL news, Caps prospect Alexander Alexeyev has four points in his last two games. The big Russian blueliner is now second on the Red Deer Rebels in points and second in the entire WHL in defensemen scoring (28 points).
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com, NaturalStatTrick.com, and Corsica.hockey.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Red Wings
Headline photo: Will Newton
