The Washington Capitals saw their nine-game winning streak (and six-game road streak) snapped last night at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2, in a lively, entertaining game before 20,066 at Joe Louis Arena.

The Caps and Wings played even for most of the night, but with Mike Knuble in the box for tripping midway through the third period, Henrik Zetterberg got his second goal of the night, beating Michal Neuvirth short-side with a backhander to lead Detroit to the victory.

Neuvirth had a solid game, making 29 saves, but in a tied game, on the road, he has to come up with that one.  Zetterberg put the puck the only place he could -- between Neuvirth's glove and his head, since the young Czech was hugging the post -- so credit should be shown for the execution. 

But if Neuvirth wants to be the goalie Bruce Boudreau calls on to start Game One in the playoffs, he needs to come up a way to keep that shot out of the net.

But Neuvirth doesn't have to shoulder the blame completely for this one.

The Capitals simply have to figure out what to do on the power play.  They drew four fouls last night, and got calls in the last minute of the first and second periods, but could do nothing with them.  Washington could muster just five shots on goal with the extra man last night in four power play opportunities.  That's just not getting it done.

But let's take some perspective in what has been a truly remarkable and riveting season for these Washington Capitals.

The Caps came into the game missing Nicklas Backstrom, Jason Arnott, Eric Fehr, Mike Green and Tom Poti to injury.  There are teams in this league that would kill to put those five guys out on the ice to start the game.  They also lost last season's plus/minus leader for six weeks, one of their most effective energy guys for the same time frame, and an enigmatic but talented scorer for three weeks.

And they've missed their playoff goalie of the last two seasons for all but 24 games.

Twelve players on last night's active roster fell into at least one of the following categories: 1) Is a true rookie; 2) Was not with the team at the start of the season; 3) Was not with the team last season; 4) Was waived THIS season at some point; 5) Is Tyler Sloan (sorry, cheap shot).

According to a tweet by Mike Vogel at Caps.com this morning, Washington leads the league in minutes played by rookies this season, despite coming off a season where they won the President's Trophy with 121 points.

And yet, the Caps sit one point out of the Eastern Conference top seed, lead the Southeast Division by five points, and are currently tied for third for most points in the entire league this season.

Has it been a disappointing season?  I guess that depends on your perspective.

The Caps still have work to do.  They still have bodies to get healthy.  They still have to settle on a goalie (or not).

They still have four tough games to go on this brutal late-season road trip before another chance to make hay in one of the toughest building to play in in the league.

But they've shown remarkable resiliency coming back from the troubles they had in December and January to climb back to the top of the standings.

How rare is it for one team to have an eight-game losing streak the same season they had a nine-game winning streak?  Someone get the Elias Sports Bureau on the phone.

Detroit Red Wings (24-16-8-56, 3rd in Central)

v.

Washington Capitals (30-12-6-66, 1st in Southeast)

Verizon Center, 7:00 pm

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• Washington hosts Detroit for the only time this season, winners of seven of their last eight games. 
• The Caps have scored four or more goals in each of their last seven contests.
• D John Carlson (+4 in two recent games) was sent back to Hershey after practice Sunday so he could participate in the AHL All-Star game
• D Karl Alzner was recalled from Hershey to take Carlson's place.  Very soon they will be wearing the red together, and will for a very long time.
• LW Alex Ovechkin has four goals and 10 assists in his last six games, and was named the NHL's No. 1 Star for last week.
• Jose Theodore will start in goal for DC.  In five January games, Theo is 4-1 with a 2.12 GAA and .929 save pct.
• Detroit has lost three of four games.
• Chris Osgood will get the start in net for the Wings.
• Detroit took this season's prior meeting, a 3-2 decision in Detroit, on Oct. 10.

The Washington Capitals overcame a sluggish start and a voracious forechecking effort by the Detroit Red Wings to defeat the defending Stanley Cup champions 4-2 before a sellout crowd at Verizon Center.

Detroit (31-11-7-68) was very strong early in the game, despite missing top line forwards Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holstrom. Washington would make quick counters, but had trouble early sustaining the attack.

But the Caps found themselves tied at the end of the two frames, thanks to another strong goaltending effort by Jose Theodore (27 saves) and goals from Viktor Kozlov (11) and Mike Green (14).

That's when their resident superstar, Alex Ovechkin, took over.

It took Ovie a couple of periods to get his feet under him, but once he did he lit up the scoreboard for two third period goals, lifting the Caps (41-15-4-66) to a big win over one of the best teams in hockey.

Ovechkin's first goal was another of the highlight-reel variety. He originally fumbled a feed from Kozlov at the top of the left circle in front of Detroit netminder Ty Conklin. But the Hart Trophy winner deftly corralled the puck, put it between his own legs and used defenseman Brian Rafalski as a screen to beat Conklin low to the glove side and break the tie.

Just over one minute later, Kirk Maltby took a cross-checking penalty to put the Caps on the power play. Six seconds after Maltby left the ice, Ovechkin banged home the insurance off a feed from Green for his league-leading 33rd goal of the season.

The rest of the third period the Caps found themselves killing penalties, and with time drawing to a close, Detroit skated six-on-four and then five-on-three as Kozlov, Brooks Laich and Tom Poti all took penalties in the last minute and a half. But the penalty killers--and especially Theodore--rose to the occasion and kept the Wings out of the goal.

Ville Leino and Johan Franzen scored the Detroit goals. Leino was making his NHL debut.

The Caps halt a two-game winless spate. Detroit has now lost five straight games.

Washington turns right back around tomorrow to host the Ottawa Senators at 12:30 pm from Verizon Center. It's the first time the Caps have played consecutive afternoon home games since 1996.

The Senators were shut out Friday night at Columbus 1-0. Ottawa is 13th in the Eastern Conference and have lost three of their last five games. One of the two wins was against the Caps in Ottawa, a 3-2 win in the final game before the all-star game.
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SCORESHEET

1ST PERIOD
18:06 Ville Leino (1), Backhand Shot. Assist: Datsyuk
19:03 Viktor Kozlov (11), Tip-In. Assist: Jurcina, Nylander

2ND PERIOD
17:19 Mike Green (14), Wrist Shot. Assist: Backstrom, Fehr
19:10 Power Play - Johan Franzen (22), Backhand Shot. Assist: Filppula, Hudler

3RD PERIOD
12:52 Alex Ovechkin (32), Wrist Shot. Assist: Kozlov, Morrisonn
14:08 Power Play - Alex Ovechkin (33), Wrist Shot. Assist: Backstrom, Green
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THREE STARS

1. A. Ovechkin - WAS (Goals: 2, Assists: 0)
2. V. Kozlov - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 1)
3. T. Fleischmann - WAS (Goals: 0, Assists: 0
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NOTES

The Capitals finished better than .500 in each of the first four months of the season for the first time in franchise history...Washington's 31-15-4 record through 50 games is the second-best in club history to a 31-12-7 start in 1984-85...The Caps are 31-1-1 when Ovechkin scores...Tom Poti returned to the ice after missing nine games with a groin injury.

The Washington Capitals (30-15-4-64, first in Southeast, second in East) host the Detroit Red Wings (31-10-7-69, first in Central) at 12:30 pm from Verizon Center.

The Capitals enter the game having dropped their only game since the all-star break, a 3-2 overtime decision to the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins Tuesday night. Detroit has dropped their last two, a 3-2 OT loss to Columbus on Tuesday and a 4-2 loss to Dallas Thursday night.

The Red Wings, the reigning Stanley Cup champion, will be without forwards Henrik Zetterberg (back) and Tomas Holstrom (groin) for the game, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Detroit is the highest scoring team in the NHL, and are led by all-star Pavel Datsyuk. His 57 points (19 goals, 38 assists) are good for a tie for sixth in the league. Marian Hossa has 24 goals to pace the Wings in that category. Zetterberg is third on the team in scoring and Holstrom is particularly strong on the power play, so the Caps receive a benefit there.

As always, all-star Nicklas Lidstrom leads the Wings blue-liners with 32 points (seven goals, 25 assists, plus-15).

The Wings have a two-headed approach at goalie, where Chris Osgood and Ty Conklin have pretty much split the starts (26-24). Conklin's stats have been better overall (16-6-2, 2.31, .917), but the veteran Osgood (15-4-6, 3.29, .880) is getting his fair share of playing time.

Osgood was yanked from Thursday night's game with Dallas, however, so he may be relegated to the pine for this marquee matinee.

The Capitals have had several days off this week for practice. Thursday night the team participated in an outdoor skate at a local country club. Coach Bruce Boudreau initiated an intra-squad scrimmage and captains Jose Theodore and Brent Johnson picked squads for a three-on-three game.

There was debate about the victor, but all enjoyed the event and it seemed to breathe new life into a team that has been struggling on special teams of late. Washington has allowed a power play goal in each of its last nine contests.

The team hopes that the return of Tom Poti, easily its best overall defender, will bolster the struggling penalty kill unit. Poti has missed the last nine games.

Coincidence?

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SPECIAL TEAMS

WAS: PP-6th (22.0%, 46/209); PK-24th (78.5%, 50/233)

DET: PP-1st (27.7%, 57/206); PK-25th (78.4%, 44/204)

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INJURIES

WAS: D Brian Pothier (Concussion-IR)

DET: RW Darren McCarty (Groin-IR); D Brad Stuart (Ribs-IR); C Henrik Zetterberg (Back-Questionable); RW Tomas Holstrom (Groin-Questionable); LW Jiri Hudler (Undisclosed-Questionable)