Seider has goal, assist for Red Wings in win against Capitals

WASHINGTON -- Moritz Seider had a goal and an assist for the Detroit Red Wings in a 5-2 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Saturday.

Seider, who will represent Team Germany at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, was plus-3 in 23:31 of ice time. He has four points (one goal, three assists) in his past three games.

Andrew Copp and Simon Edvinsson each had two assists for the Red Wings (20-13-3), who have won three of four. John Gibson made 24 saves.

“I thought we got good individual performances throughout the lineup,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “Nobody was a superstar, but everybody contributed. Able to roll four lines for most of it. There were some deflections and tips that [Gibson] had to fight through to find, and I thought our [defense] did a good job.”

Aliaksei Protas and Martin Fehervary scored for the Capitals (19-12-4), who have lost four of five (1-3-1). Logan Thompson made 36 saves.

“We didn’t really start like we wanted to,” Fehervary said. “They were quicker. They were winning more battles. They’re a good team, right? With them, we’ve got to do those things right. Otherwise, they can score.”

John Leonard gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 1:05 of the first period. Thompson made the initial save on Edvinsson’s shot off the rush, but Leonard knocked in the rebound from in front for his first goal of the season.

James van Riemsdyk made it 2-0 at 1:37 of the second period when Seider’s shot bounced off the back wall and out in front, where he poked the puck past Thompson.

Elmer Soderblom extended the lead to 3-0 at 5:55, taking a pass in the low slot from Marco Kasper and lifting a backhand shot over the stick of the fallen Thompson for his second goal of the season.

It was Soderblom’s first goal since Oct. 28 (18 games).

“Feels like I’ve been having a lot of good chances lately,” Soderblom said. “It was nice to get one past the goalie. Just front net, trying to get position on the [defense] and [Kasper] made a good play to the net and I was able to get the puck in the net.”

Seider made it 4-0 when he forced a turnover in the defensive zone, recovered the loose puck and scored on a breakaway at 10:05.

“I thought we were OK going into the [first] intermission, [but] then we just make a few mistakes, which then really put us on the scoreboard behind the 8-ball and now we’re chasing it,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said.

Protas cut it to 4-1 at 10:36 when he muscled past Axel Sandin-Pellikka on the rush and beat Gibson with a far-side shot from the bottom of the left circle.

Fehervary made it 4-2 at 8:30 of the third period, scoring on a wrist shot from the right circle.

Jakob Chychrun appeared to pull Washington within 4-3 at 9:41, but the goal was waved off due to goaltender interference by Protas. The Capitals challenged, but the call was upheld after a video review.

Dylan Larkin scored into an empty net at 17:10 for the 5-2 final.

The teams will play the second of back-to-back games in Detroit on Sunday (1 p.m. ET; FDSNDET, MNMT, NHLN, TVAS).

“It was a good team win,” Leonard said. “Obviously it was good to get that lead early and tack on a couple more. You knew that they were going to have that push and they did, but for the most part I thought we did a good job weathering it and were able to cap it off.”

NOTES: Detroit outshot Washington 17-6 in the first. … Gibson improved to 7-0-0 in his past seven appearances, tying his career high for longest winning streak, set from Oct. 31-Nov. 16, 2021. He became the first Red Wings goalie with a streak that long since Joey MacDonald (7-0-0 from Feb. 8-28, 2012). … Detroit forward Alex DeBrincat had eight shots on goal and was plus-2. … Chychrun had eight shots on goal but was minus-3 in 21:31. Capitals center Dylan Strome was also minus-3, along with forward Alex Ovechkin, who was limited to two shots on goal.