Capitals down Red Wings

The Washington Capitals defeated the Detroit Red Wings in their second to last preseason game in thrilling fashion thanks to a late game winning goal from Connor Brown. They also won the practice shootout thanks to goals from Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dylan Strome. Darcy Kuemper also played well in his home Caps debut and even played the full game.

The Red Wings struck first when they were awarded a 5 on 3 power play. It was a delay of game from Strome and a minor called on John Carlson. Tyler Bertuzzi had the goal at 8:09.

The Caps tied it at 19:37 aka the McNugget Minute when Lars Eller gave the puck to Alex Ovechkin who then found Connor McMichael lurking next to the net. McMichael needed that goal big time. 1-1 was the score after one with the Red Wings outshooting the Caps 15-10.

In the second at 7:42 Michael Rasmussen gave the Red Wings the lead. The Caps tied it back up at 13:45 on a shot from Nick Jensen that was assisted by McMichael and Conor Sheary.

2-2 was the score after two with the Red Wings outshooting the Caps 12-8 in the second period.

At 17:33 on the power play the Caps took the lead for good. It came with a snipe from Brown from the right face off circle. Strome and Kuznetsov had the helpers. Ovechkin put it away with an empty net goal.

4-2 would be the final as the Caps outshot the Red Wings 17-6 in the final period and 35-33 overall. Kuemper made 31 saves in his first full 60 minutes of action.

There was a scare in the second period as T.J. Oshie was hit along the boards. He didn’t return to the game and getting taken out was not precautionary per Peter Laviolette. He will get evaluated today so stay tuned. We’ll have more on the Oshie injury later.