'No moral victories': Wings fall further out of playoffs with OT loss against Capitals

Washington, D.C. — Getting into the playoffs for the Red Wings just became a tad more difficult.

Washington's Dylan Strome scored his second goal of the game at 1 minute, 55 seconds of overtime, giving the Capitals a 4-3 victory over the Wings.

Strome drove to the net and deflected a pass from John Carlson past goaltender Alex Lyon for his 25th goal and the game-winner.

With the one point earned, the Wings (36-29-7, 79 points) find themselves two points behind Washington (36-26-9, 81 points) for the second and final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals also have one game in hand on the Wings.

"In reality it's probably a good road point," coach Derek Lalonde said. "But under the circumstances you certainly want to get the full two points. Some mixed emotions there. We have a lead into the third (period) and then finding a way to get into overtime.

"In reality a pretty good road point under the circumstances but you probably want a little more."

BOX SCORE: Capitals 4, Red Wings 3 (OT)

Patrick Kane tied the game 3-3 at 14:40 of the third period. The Wings forced Washington into a turnover deep in the zone, and Alex DeBrincat fed Kane in the slot, Kane unleashing his 17th goal.

Washington overcame a 2-1 deficit to begin the final period on goals from Connor McMichael (17th goal) and Strome and Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren continued his stellar play with 30 saves.

"It's not what we wanted but getting one (point) was huge for us," captain Dylan Larkin said. "No moral victories. But we played good and it's playoff style hockey and we stuck in there. I wish we had a better start to the third period."

The Wings continue this rugged five-game road trip — they're 0-1-1 — with games Thursday in Carolina, Saturday in Florida and Monday in Tampa. All three opponents are soundly in the playoff picture.

"I like the way we're competing and defending and the underlying numbers will play out well," Lalonde said. "in reality we've had six fairly good periods on the road and only one point to show for it. But we're going to need to be even better with the type of competition we have coming up here."

A turning point in this game was the first five minutes of the third period, as Washington rallied from a 2-1 deficit.

McMichael tied the game 2-2 just 35 seconds into the third period. Lyon (26 saves) leaned the wrong way on a shot off the end boards and McMichael had room to stuff a puck past Lyon, for McMichael's 17th goal.

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Strome then gave the Capitals the lead at 4:49. Strome won a faceoff from Andrew Copp, the puck got to defenseman Carlson who drove a shot to the net, and Lyon's rebound went straight to Strome near the side who backhanded a shot past Lyon.

The Strome goal frustrated Lalonde.

"Just a faceoff man-on-man, I don't know what our center (Copp) was thinking," Lalonde said. "He lost it clean and left the center and that's the guy (Strome) who banged it home. That's minor hockey, that's Hockey 101, that's hockey 15 years ago and hockey 15 years from now.

"Just really disappointed in that one."

David Perron broke a 1-1 tie with 43 seconds left in the second period, and DeBrincat got the Wings going offensively with his 24th goal.

Perron broke a 1-1 tie with his 14th goal. The Wings had a strong power play going, pressuring the Capitals, and off a scramble, after Lindgren had made two sliding saves, Perron put a loose puck past a prone Lindgren, Perron's 14th goal.

Washington's Nic Dowd and DeBrincat traded second-period goals earlier in the period.

Dowd opened the game's scoring, just 2:09 into the second period. Former Wings defenseman Nick Jensen had possession of the puck along the boards and found Dowd drifting into the slot. Dowd unleashed a shot past Lyon, his ninth goal.

But DeBrincat answered quickly. DeBrincat drove to the net and converted a nice centering pass from Jeff Petry, DeBrincat's first goal in 13 games, at 4:53 of the second period.

"It's very good because he's had a lot of looks and it's very important for a goal scorer to get the back of the net," said Lalonde of DeBrincat ending his goal-scoring slump.

Lalonde gave credit to Washington and its goaltender Lindgren, who has sparked the Capitals' resurgence.

"You can see why this team is where they're at," Lalonde said. "The goaltender, no one is playing better in the league right now and they feed off him. The confidence he brings to that group, you can tell. But I give our guys credit to be down in the third against that goalie and it feels like it's going to take something remarkable to get something by him, and we got a goal."

The Wings' resilience was a factor in them earning at least the point.

"The first two periods we managed the puck pretty well for the most, and we were agressive and forechecking," forward J.T. Compher said. "They had the good push, and it was a little bit of us and a desperate team over there. But I liked the way we responded and we would have loved to get the two points but proud we were resilient in the third."

The Wings had chances to break the tie after Kane's goal, including a Jeff Petry missing an open net and the Wings not converting on an odd-man advantage in front of Lindgren, but couldn't convert.

"We had some other looks, Petry had the wide open net and he probably scores nine of 10 times," Lalonde said. "He might have been surprised by how much room and space he had.

"The totality of it is it's a good point, just not with the circumstances."

tkulfan@detroitnews.com

@tkulfan