Red Wings 4, Capitals 2: Justin Abdelkader scored twice during a 6 1/2-minute span in the third period as visiting Detroit improved to 4-1-1 in its last six contests.

Abdelkader stripped rookie Andre Burakovsky of the puck and scored from the doorstep to forge a 2-2 tie at 4:04 of the third. The Michigan native wasn't done as he beat Braden Holtby (18 saves) with a one-timer from the left circle at 10:34 before Pavel Datsyuk capped the scoring with 54 seconds remaining following a wrist shot from the right circle for a power-play goal.

Gustav Nyquist scored his first goal since Oct. 17 and Abdelkader and Datsyuk each added an assist for the Red Wings, who lost two of the three meetings to Washington last season. Captain Henrik Zetterberg notched a pair of assists, defenseman Kyle Quincey had one for his first point of the season and Jimmy Howard finished with 25 saves.

Troy Brouwer scored and Evgeny Kuznetsov added a power-play goal for the Capitals, who have dropped three of their last four. Captain Alex Ovechkin registered a team-high seven shots, but was held off the scoresheet for a career-high fifth consecutive contest.

After scoring four goals in his first four games of the season, Nyquist took advantage of a Washington turnover in its own end before making a bevy of moves and swatting the rebound of his own shot past Holtby at 8:56 of the second period. The Capitals answered 4:23 later as Joel Ward's diagonal feed from the right-wing boards was shoveled home by Kuznetsov before Brouwer one-timed defenseman John Carlson's cross-slot pass from the left circle at 19:02.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Detroit nearly opened the scoring at 6:22, but officials deemed that RW Luke Glendening interfered with Holtby as the goaltender retreated to his crease - although reviews showed that the netminder tripped over his own skates prior to LW Drew Miller firing the puck into the gaping net. ... Capitals LW Jason Chimera suffered a broken nose after attempting to deliver a hit to Red Wings D Brendan Smith in the first period. Chimera was bleeding profusely, but returned to the contest later in the session. ... Washington D Matt Niskanen played in his 500th career contest and Detroit C Darren Helm competed in his 300th.