Orlov Lifts Caps to Comeback Win in OT

All night long on Monday night at Capital One Arena, fans breathlessly awaited each shift from Caps captain Alex Ovechkin, who entered the game one goal behind the legendary Gordie Howe (801) for second place on the NHL's all-time goals list. Ovechkin hit a post in the second and just missed on some other good looks, but it was a different Russian player with a single digit on his back that sent the throng home happy.

Dmitry Orlov's one-timer with 21.2 seconds remaining in overtime enabled the Caps to come away with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the visiting Detroit Red Wings, in front of a full house that included two of Howe's four children, longtime former NHLers Mark and Marty Howe.

Overtime was a chess match for the first few minutes, with the teams trading possessions and turnovers, but putting no pucks on either net for nearly three and a half minutes. After the Wings misfired on a pass in Washington territory, Nic Dowd broke it out and scooted into Detroit ice. He left it for Marcus Johansson, who had just hopped on, and he in turn fed Orlov, who drilled a one-timer home from just above the right circle to give the Caps their only lead of the night, and their seventh win in their last eight games.
With Monday's triumph over the Wings, Washington has now reached "legitimate .500," with 17 wins in its 34 games (17-13-4).
It had been a while since the Caps found themselves down by multiple goals in a game, two weeks and two days to be exact. But not to worry, kid. They dug themselves out of a two-goal hole on a pair of nifty Dowd strikes in a span of 11 seconds late in the second period, and they answered back swiftly when Detroit retook a one-goal lead in the third, setting the stage for Orlov.
"I loved it, I thought it was a great win for us," says Caps goalie Charlie Lindgren, who won for the seventh time in eight starts with a 16-save performance. "I thought we had a heck of a game; we had a lot of guys that I thought brought their 'A' game. We threw a lot of pucks at the net, I thought we had a lot of chances. And we put four in the net, and when we put four in the net, we should win those games. So it's a big one."
Detroit got on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead on a goal on the forecheck at 7:30 of the first. The Wings swung the puck behind the Washington net, and as Caps defenseman Nick Jensen went to the corner to claim it, two Detroit forwards put heat on him, swatting the puck toward the net where David Perron had quietly drifted. Perron quickly elevated a backhander to the short side to give Detroit the lead.
In the backside of the period, Detroit doubled its lead with a dozen seconds left on its first power play opportunity. With the Wings' second extra-man unit on the ice, Jonatan Berggren made a nice feed to the front for Oskar Sundqvist, who had the time and space needed to bury a shot from the slot at 15:36 of the opening frame.
While some of the players lamented the team's first-period performance afterwards, Caps coach Peter Laviolette rightfully notes that it wasn't as bad as the scoreboard made it look.

"The start's a little bit deceiving," says Laviolette. "There was a quick, quick pop in the corner, and in the back of the net [on the Perron goal]. Again, I don't think there was but maybe three or four chances against; we had nine or 10 for. But you look up at the scoreboard, and it doesn't put energy on our bench or in the building.
"You want to get going and score goals, and create that atmosphere and that energy and it just kind of works against you. So it feels lousy; we had work to do. When you're down 2-0, it's a hole you've got to dig out of."
The Caps got their shovels out in the second.
Washington had a pair of power plays in the middle of the second period, and it wasn't able to score during either of those man advantages, the fans nearly got what they came for when Ovechkin backhanded a shot off the post from in tight on the second of those opportunities.
More importantly, the Caps drew momentum from those power plays, and they quickly squared the score when Dowd doubled down in the back half of the middle frame.
Washington broke the puck out of its own end, with Nicolas Aube-Kubel carrying into Detroit ice, and leaving the puck for Ovechkin just inside the line near the Washington bench. Ovechkin fed a late arriving Dowd, who confidently carried to the slot, evaded a poke-check and fired a rocket to the shelf to halve the Detroit lead to 2-1 at 15:35.
Eleven seconds later, Dowd tied it up on a deft drive-by deflection of a Jensen shot from the half-wall, above the right circle.

Some confusion ensued afterward Dowd's second goal, as Wings goalie Ville Husso vehemently complained that the puck had hit the protective netting ahead of the goal, but the Wings weren't able to get a definitive video look that would give them enough confidence to issue a challenge.
"[Husso] said it hit the netting," says Detroit coach Derek Lalonde. "He was adamant that it hit the netting. It hit the netting. It's just unfortunate - probably a flaw in the system. Our guys know it hits the netting, Ville is 100 percent adamant that it hits the netting, but they're not giving us the feed. They keep replaying the goal, so it's really frustrating. It's a flawed system."
Dowd's two quick strikes were just a second shy of a franchise record, but Steve Leach's 32-year-old record - set on Nov. 23, 1990 vs Pittsburgh - lives on.
Washington killed off a pair of Detroit power plays right after the two Dowd goals, but the Wings' Lucas Raymond put his team back on top when he scored on a short-ice 2-on-1 rush at 4:49 of the third.
The resilient Caps answered back just 70 seconds later when Eller and Aube-Kubel combined to set up Erik Gustafsson for the tying tally. Eller carried around the back of the Detroit cage with Wings defender Filip Hronek draped on him. As Eller halted and turned in the right circle, Gustafsson surreptitiously snuck down toward the back door on the weak side. Eller spotted him and hit him with a perfect seam pass, and Gustafsson did the rest. A game after his first career hat trick, he scored his fourth goal in two games to knot the score at 3-3.
"We talked about cycling the puck and holding onto it until we see a clear pass, no 'hope' plays," recounts Eller. "Once you get to wear them out a little bit, [Gustafsson] joined there on the back post. I think we're at our best when we've got the defensemen joining in those situations, getting up in the play and it gives us more options. Gus is a heck of a player, and he's been hot the last two games for us."

After entering Saturday's game against Toronto with four goals in his previous 119 games, Gustafsson now has four goals in his last two contests.
"It's always fun to score goals," says Gustafsson. "That's what you want to do, and you want to help the team win. It was obviously a good goal to tie it up in the third."
With two goals from defensemen tonight, the Caps now have 21 tallies from the backline this season, including 17 of them in their last 17 games.
Ovechkin had a couple of late looks, but he couldn't get one to go. The Caps continued to put offensive zone heat on the Wings, but they weren't able to solve Husso again until Orlov notched the fourth overtime game-winner of his NHL career.
Ovechkin's pursuit of Howe will continue on Thursday night in Ottawa when the Caps face the Senators in the front end of a set of back-to-back goals.