The Detroit Red Wings drew first blood in a home-and-home situation with the Washington Capitals as they earned a 5-2 road victory on Saturday afternoon.
John Leonard, James van Riemsdyk, Elmer Soderblom, Moritz Seider, and Dylan Larkin all scored for the victorious side, while John Gibson stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced en route to his seventh consecutive winning start.
Aliaksei Protas and Martin Fehervary both tallied and Logan Thompson made 37 saves for the Capitals.
Detroit broke the ice in the opening moments of the contest, as Leonard buried his first goal as a member of the Red Wings just over a minute in.
van Riemsdyk took advantage of an advantageous bounce off the backboards and placed it between the legs of Thompson to double up Detroit’s lead less than two minutes into the second period.
Just moments after missing a golden opportunity, Soderblom swiftly got his revenge as he stretched the Red Wings’ lead to 3-0 with 14:05 left in the second period.
Seider made it 4-0 with 9:55 left in the second as he stole the puck at his own blueline and stormed down on a breakaway, before ripping a wrist shot high over the blocker of Thompson.
Protas finally solved Gibson just 31 seconds after Seider’s goal as he sent his shot flying into the top shelf to cut the deficit to 4-1.
Detroit looked set to extend the lead as DeBrincat came down all alone on a breakaway, but Thompson denied the sniper’s backhanded attempt with 15:49 left in the contest.
Washington got the game back within reach with 11:30 remaining as Martin Fehervary spun around and fired his shot into the back of the net.
Jakob Chychrun sent his shot into a wide-open net just over a minute later, but it was instantly waived off for goaltender interference. The call on the ice stood following an unsuccessful coach’s challenge from the Capitals.
Larkin added an empty-net goal to seal the victory.
These two teams will return for the second half of the home-and-home set on Sunday.
–Field Level Media
