Capitals 2 - 3 Red Wings
Final
  for this game

Zetterberg, Red Wings stop Washington's streak at nine

Mar 17, 2011 - 3:41 AM Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Henrik Zetterberg scored halfway through the third period to help the Detroit Red Wings take a 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals.

Zetterberg had another goal, Valtteri Filppula also scored while Brian Rafalski added three assists to help the Red Wings win their third straight game. Jimmy Howard made 26 saves in the win.

"I thought they played good and I thought we played good and we were able to get one more goal than them," said Detroit head coach Mike Babcock.

Detroit remains firmly entrenched in first place in the Central Division and the second spot in the Western Conference. The team is eight points up on Chicago for the division lead and four points ahead of San Jose for second place in the conference.

The Capitals, who got goals from John Carlson and Alex Ovechkin and 32 saves from Michal Neuvrith, came into the game riding a season-high nine-game winning streak. Also, the team had won a franchise-record tying six straight on the road prior to Wednesday's setback.

"They came at us hard and I think they controlled the game," said Ovechkin. "It was good to bounce back right away and it was fun game to watch and a fun game to play."

Washington, had a chance to move past the Flyers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, but remain a point behind with 10 games to play while the Flyers still have 13 contests remaining. Washington has a five-point lead on Tampa Bay for the Southeast Division lead, but Tampa has two games in hand.

With the score tied in the third, Detroit went ahead when Zetterberg skated into the Washington end, down the right wing and from a sharp angle lifted a backhand over Neuvrith with 10:07 to play. The power-play marker was his 20th goal of the season.

From there, Howard made the lead stand as he stopped 10 shots in the frame for the win.

Detroit took the lead 12 1/2 minutes into the game on a one-timer from Zetterberg in the high slot.

However, Washington answered 33 seconds later when Jason Chimera's pass from behind the right side of the net, came all the way to the point and Carlson slapped it home.

The Red Wings scored two minutes later on a Filppula slap shot from the right point, his 14th goal of the season.

Ovechkin's 29th goal of the season came 5:53 into the second as he flew through the neutral zone, backed off his defender and lasered a wrister past Howard to tie the game.

Game Notes

The Caps, who are on a six-game road trip, play in New Jersey on Friday...Detroit hits the road for games in Columbus on Thursday and Nashville on Saturday...Washington had tied its consecutive road win mark that was originally set from February 26-April 1, 1984. Also, it was the longest overall winning streak since a 14-game run from January 13-February 7 last year...It was the only meeting of the season between these two teams.






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