POSTGAME NOTEBOOK - Wings 3, Caps 2 (OT)

Back Home Blues -The Caps opened an October-ending two-game homestand at Capital One Arena on Wednesday night, hosting the Detroit Red Wings for the first time in nearly three years. After taking a 2-0 lead early in the second thanks to a pair of power-play goals, the Caps had to settle for a single point in a 3-2 loss to the visitors.

Washington wasn't able to add to its two-goal cushion; the Caps generated little in the way of second-period offense after going up by two at the four-minute mark of the middle period. They did get some looks and some chances in the third, but Detroit goaltender Thomas Greiss stopped all 10 of those as well as one shot from distance in the extra session.
"I think with [a two-goal lead] the next one is obviously big," says Caps right wing Tom Wilson, who was robbed of a possible go-ahead goal by Greiss late in the third. "So if you can get that third one, it helps. But it's good to play in those tight-knit games. And obviously when it's 2-1, the next goal is huge. If we could have gotten one at either point, I think it would have helped.
"They're a pesky team there. They're young, they're fast, and they stuck with us. And in OT< it kind of goes either way."
Dylan Larkin scored at 1:37 of overtime to swing it the Wings' way, taking a feed from rookie Lucas Raymond. Larkin's goal enabled the Wings to head back to Detroit with a 2-1-0 record on their first road trip of the season.
"If all you're doing is just defending the whole time, the momentum just keeps riding the other way," says Detroit coach Jeff Blashill. "I thought we did a pretty good job of that in the second, after they scored. It was 2-0, and the next shift I thought they had a really good shift, but then after that I thought we started to create some chances for ourselves, create some [offensive] zone time, and so I thought that was a real positive.
"I didn't feel any frustration or panic on the bench at all, we just kept playing. Certainly to come back and have a chance to win it in overtime, you need good goaltending against that team. They have a lot of talent and they make plays out of nowhere."
Eight For Eight -Caps captain Alex Ovechkin scored for the third straight game, and notched a point for the seventh straight game to start the season. Now in his 17th NHL season, Ovechkin has had only one season-opening point streak longer than his current one, and you have to go back to his rookie season of 2005-06 to find it.
As a 20-year-old NHL freshman who would go on to score 52 goals and win the Calder Trophy that season, Ovechkin opened his NHL career by reeling off points in each of his first eight games (six goals, four assists), a feat he will attempt to match at the age of 36 on Friday night when the Arizona Coyotes come to town.
In his first seven games this season, Ovechkin has piled up eight goals and 13 points. He leads the NHL in goals and is second to Edmonton's Connor McDavid (15) in points, heading into Thursday night's slate of NHL activity.
With eight goals on the season, Ovechkin has 738 for his NHL career, just three behind Hockey Hall of Famer Brett Hull (741) for fourth place on the NHL's all-time list.
Powering Up - The Caps scored both of their goals on the power play in Wednesday's game, ending an 0-for-16 dry spell with the extra man that stretched back to opening night. Ovechkin scored on the Caps' first man advantage chance of the game in the first period, and Evgeny Kuznetsov struck just four seconds into Washington's second power play of the game, four minutes into the middle period.
"For whatever reason, if you would look at every team and every power play, there are probably some rises and falls throughout any year," says Caps defenseman John Carlson. "We certainly didn't enjoy it and were battling through it and trying our best. We're not happy with how it went and it wasn't acceptable to us. But those kinds of things happen, and then you get a day like today that really nips that in the bud.
"Overall, I think it's frustrating when it's not going well. We expect to score every single time we go out there, and that's obviously not possible, but that's our goal."
Seven Up - Washington has earned a point in seven straight games at the start of the season, doing so for only the third time in franchise history. The Caps opened the 2011-12 season with a perfect 7-0-0 mark, and they established a franchise record last season with a 6-0-3 start, earning a point or more in each of the first nine games of the season.
Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears were at home on Wednesday night, hosting the Syracuse Crunch at Giant Center. Hershey suffered the same fate as its parent club, taking a 2-0 lead only to lose 3-2 in overtime.
At 1:11 of the first period, Bears winger Axel Jonsson-Fjallby staked his team to a 1-0 lead with his second goal of the season, getting help from Alex Alexeyev and Aliaksei Protas. More than 11 minutes later, the Bears doubled their lead on Matt Moulson's first goal of the season, Cody Franson and Brian Pinho assisting.
Syracuse scored early in the second and early in the third to force overtime, and Charles Hudon won it for the visitors with 14 seconds left in the extra session.
Pheonix Copley (1-1-1) stopped 37 shots and earned third star honors in a losing effort in the Hershey nets. The 3-1-1 Bears are back in action on Saturday night when they host Cleveland.
By The Numbers - Kuznetsov led the Caps with 24:51 in ice time … Ovechkin led Washington with five shots on net, and he, Kuznetsov and Connor McMichael each had six shot attempts to lead the Caps … Garnet Hathaway led the Caps with three hits … Carlson, Nick Jensen and T.J. Oshie led the Caps with two blocked shots each.