{{pageModel.leagueAbbr}} {{pageModel.subtitle}} | Las Vegas Review-Journal
National Hockey League
Washington 5, Detroit 2
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, November 30, 2019
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Referees: Ghislain Hebert, Chris Lee
Linesmen: Derek Amell, Brad Kovachik
Attendance: 19190

A battle between the best and worst teams in the NHL had the predictable outcome, as Alex Ovechkin notched a hat trick to lead the Washington Capitals to a 5-2 win at Detroit on Saturday.

The Capitals (43 points) now lead the NHL in points and have won five of their last seven games. On the other side, Detroit has a league-worst 17 points and is winless in its last nine, including seven straight regulation losses.

The Red Wings opened the scoring on a power play with 8:13 left in the first period on a goal by Robby Fabbri. He found himself all alone in front of the Washington goal after taking a pass from Dylan Larkin, made a deke on the backhand and placed a shot underneath the crossbar.

It remained that way until early in the second period, when Washington took advantage of a power play of its own. With 17:41 left in the second, T.J. Oshie took a pass from Jakub Vrana and fired a one-timer from the slot past Red Wings goalie Jonathan Bernier to tie the game at 1-1.

Washington then took a 2-1 lead with 10:39 left in the second on a goal by Ovechkin, who skated around the back of the Detroit net on a rush and fired it into a half-open goal.

The Capitals took a 3-1 lead with 5:37 remaining on a goal by Tom Wilson, who skated in to the side of Bernier, cut across the crease and poked a backhand between Bernier's legs.

The Red Wings responded immediately, as Luke Glendening scored just nine seconds later to cut Washington's lead to 3-2. Glendening took a pass from Tyler Bertuzzi between the face-off circles and fired a shot that went off of the inside of the post and in.

After the Red Wings pulled Bernier with just under two minutes remaining, Ovechkin scored an empty-net goal with 1:35 left to seal the win for Washington.

Ovechkin capped the hat trick -- the 25th of his career -- with another empty-net goal with 54.4 seconds remaining.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Washington   Detroit
Alex Ovechkin 4 Points Robby Fabbri 1
Alex Ovechkin 3 Goals Robby Fabbri 1
Evgeny Kuznetsov 3 Assists Tyler Bertuzzi 1
T.J. Oshie 1 Power Play Goals Robby Fabbri 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Ilya Samsonov .926 Save Percentage Jonathan Bernier .906
Ilya Samsonov 25 Saves Jonathan Bernier 29
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Washington 34 5 1-3 3-4 8 27
Detroit 27 2 1-4 2-3 6 34
Upcoming Games
  • Detroit will play their next game at home against NY Islanders. The Red Wings have a W/L % of .429 after a win and .182 after a loss.
  • Washington will play their next game on the road against San Jose. The Capitals have a W/L % of .684 after a win and .667 after a loss.