The Washington Capitals outplayed the Detroit Red Wings for large parts of Thursday’s game, but the end result was frustratingly the same.

The Capitals lost to the Red Wings 3-1. The L was their third straight. It dropped the Caps back to .500 (5-5-2).

Alex Ovechkin scored his 786th career goal in the game, tying Gordie Howe for the most goals ever with one franchise. But that’s all the Caps could muster.

The Red Wings were buoyed by hardworking goals from Lucas Raymond and Andrew Copp. Dylan Larkin scored the empty net goal.

Connor McMichael had his best game of the young season thus far, nearly scoring on a takeaway in the second period. He also drew a power play for the Caps.

Darcy Kuemper stopped 23 of 25 shots for the Capitals while Ville Husso stopped 33 of 34. Martin Fehervary had a game-high four shots and team-high four hits.