Capitals defeat Red Wings for 11th straight home win

WASHINGTON-- T.J. Oshie had two goals and an assist to help the Washington Capitals defeat the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 at Verizon Center on Thursday.
"I thought it was really good," Oshie said. "The second half of the second period was a little sluggish, too many turnovers. The momentum was starting to swing their side and I think in the third we did a good job coming right back and shutting the door."
Washington (38-11-6) has won five consecutive games and 11 in a row at home.

WATCH: All Red Wings vs. Capitals highlights
Marcus Johansson, Brett Connolly, John Carlson and Nicklas Backstrom also scored for the Capitals. Braden Holtby made 14 saves.
Andreas Athanasiou scored twice and captain Henrik Zetterberg also scored for Detroit (22-22-10). Petr Mrazek made 25 saves in his fourth consecutive start.
Johansson scored at 5:57 of the first period to give Washington a 1-0 lead. The Capitals have scored first in 40 of their 55 games this season. The goal was Johansson's 18th.
Athanasiou tied it 1-1 at 13:30 of the first. His 12th of the season went over Holtby's shoulder from the slot.
Athanasiou's second goal came on the power play 16:23 and gave Detroit a 2-1 lead.
Connolly tied the game 2-2, setting a new NHL career high with his 12th goal when he scored at 18:30 of the first.

Oshie's 21st gave Washington a 3-2 lead 1:16 into the second period from a tight angle.
Zetterberg scored at 1:25 of the third period to tie it 3-3 with his 12th.
Carlson made it 4-3 at 4:15 of the third with his blast from the right circle. Oshie's power-play goal made it 5-3 at 14:18.
"That's a huge momentum swing the wrong way," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said of giving up the fourth goal. "I thought obviously we could have gained momentum with the third goal there and put ourselves back in the mix and then we got hemmed in in our zone. We had opportunities to get rid of the puck and get it out of the zone and we just didn't. We weren't able to do it."
Backstrom scored an empty-net goal with 1:32 remaining.

Goal of the game

Connolly got tangled up with Detroit defenseman Danny DeKeyser and pushed to the ice near the boards but got up in time to score on the rebound of Karl Alzner's point shot from behind the goal line.

Save of the game

Mrazek stopped Justin Williams' semi-breakaway in the second period with a glove save.

Highlight of the game

Anthanasiou spun in the Capitals' zone as four-on-four play ended and scored a top-shelf goal on Holtby in the first period.

Unsung performance of the game

After forward Andre Burakovsky left the game in the first period with a hand injury, the remaining 11 forwards had to play extra shifts for the rest of the game, including killing off three penalties.

They said it

"I know it's a fun game to play but maybe not the best way to play. We got the two points. I think we played well, especially in the third period. Not a good start to the game. It was a different one, but we did pull it off and we won." -- Capitals forward Marcus Johansson

"I know I'd rather win 5-0. I'd feel a lot better but at the same time it's not going to happen every game and Detroit is a good team, they play with a lot of speed and they're gonna get some good chances. Even if we ended up 6-3 it was maybe closer than that. It was a good game, I thought." -- Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom
"Especially from the first, it felt like they had a lot jump than we had. They were first two pucks. I thought we tried to play the way we wanted in the first, but as soon as they got the puck it felt like we didn't have enough quickness in our legs to get going." -- Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg

Need to know

Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson left the game with an upper-body injury after he was boarded by Backstrom in the first period and did not return. … Capitals coach Barry Trotz said Burakovsky will miss some time. Forward Zach Sanford, who was recalled from Hershey of the American League on Wednesday, will play Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks. "We've got five days to sort of figure out what we're going to do there," Trotz said. "It'll probably be a little more longer term." … The Capitals are the second team in NHL history to score five or more goals in at least 10 straight home games (1970-71 Boston Bruins, 11 games).

What's next

Red Wings:At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (5 p.m. ET; FS-D, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Capitals:Host the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, CSN-DC, NHL.TV)