RECAP: Detroit ‘very happy’ it could finish off Mom’s Trip with 3-2 overtime win against Washington

DETROIT – Finishing off a highly successful and fun-filled Mom’s Trip weekend, the Detroit Red Wings completed a sweep of their home-and-home back-to-back set against the Washington Capitals with a 3-2 overtime win at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday afternoon.

“I think [the moms] had a blast,” said Moritz Seider, who scored the game-winning goal at 4:36 of overtime. “They brought the energy. We just wanted to make them proud, and I think we did that. Obviously, those trips are very meaningful for the whole organization. Those are the moments you got to step up. I’m very happy we did.”

Snapping a personal six-game winless streak, netminder Cam Talbot made 31 saves to help the Red Wings (21-13-3; 45 points) continue to hold their place atop the Atlantic Division through games played on Sunday. As for goalie Charlie Lindgren, he stopped 24 shots for the Capitals (19-12-5; 43 points).

“It’s tough to beat the same team twice like that,” Talbot said. “It’s nice to put on a show like that for [the moms], and I’m sure they loved it.”

The first period of Sunday’s matinee was almost the inverse of Saturday’s, with Detroit trailing both in shots on goal (14-5) and on the scoreboard (1-0) through 20 minutes. Ethen Frank scored the game-opening goal for Washington at 14:17, carrying Dylan Strome’s pass through the neutral zone and right face-off circle before using his backhand to beat Talbot.

“Not out of the gate real well,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “We knew they weren’t real pleased with their effort [on Saturday]. The tables kind of turned, but I thought we stuck with it. After one, we had a little conversation about what we thought we needed to do and we started to play.”

Detroit went on its first power play of the afternoon at 7:22 of the second period and leveled the score at 1-1 just 1:15 later thanks to Lucas Raymond’s 11th goal of the season, a missile of a snap shot from above the right face-off circle that went off the post and into the back of the net. The assists on Raymond’s goal, his first since Dec. 4, went to Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Emmitt Finnie.

Making it 2-1 for the Red Wings, John Leonard scored his second goal in as many days when he redirected Alex DeBrincat’s shot from the left face-off circle past Lindgren at 13:44. Andrew Copp also recorded a secondary assist.

“He’s got speed,” Talbot said about Leonard, who has three points (two goals, one assist) in four games since being recalled from the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins on Dec. 15. “He can shoot it off the pass. It comes off his stick so hard and in so many different ways…I remember him from Training Camp this year, not really knowing him coming in, and I was impressed with him then. So, I’m not surprised that he had the success that he had down in the minors and what he’s doing for us up here right now.”

Frank tied it for Washington with a wrist shot from the slot off a feed from John Carlson for his second goal of the contest to get it to 2-2 at 10:22 of the third period.

In the extra frame, Detroit unfortunately saw an early power play come up empty. Later, with time ticking away, Copp fed Seider in the right face-off circle for a highlight-reel one-timer.

Sunday marked Copp’s second straight multi-point game and fifth multi-point performance of the campaign.

“I thought [Copp] just did a great job of drawing the forward in and created a little bit of space behind him,” Seider said when asked about what he saw before notching his third career NHL overtime goal. “I’m just happy it went in and sealed the deal.”

NEXT UP: Before enjoying the NHL’s holiday break, Detroit will host the Dallas Stars for the Hockeytown Holidays Game at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday night.

WHAT WAS SAID

McLellan on Marco Kasper and Jacob Bernard-Docker being listed as healthy scratches

“With the moms here, we preach team all the time. We think that’s part of our culture. Everybody is important in the organization. Not just the players, but the training staff and everybody. The right thing to do was to give everybody an opportunity to play in front of their moms.”

Talbot on what impressed him most about Detroit’s pair of wins over Washington

“We did it two different ways. Yesterday, we came out hard and established our game right off the bat. Today, we kind of weathered the storm in the first period, came out had a better second period and just battled our way through to the end there. You got to find different ways to win in this League, night in and night out, especially against the same opponent.”

Talbot on what he’s seeing from Seider

“Some of the best hockey the League has seen right now as far as a defenseman. I don’t know how, you don’t put him in the top three for the Norris conversation right now. Good to have a guy like that on our team. He just steps up time and time again in big moments like that.”

Seider what he liked best about the way that his club won on Sunday afternoon

“I think we were a little sleepy and on our heels, but we found a way to get away with it in the first. Cam stepped up big, then we kind of found our way into the game more and more, shift after shift.”