Streak Ends in Hockeytown

Henrik Zetterberg made sure that the Washington Capitals would not win their 10th straight game. The fantastic Swede scored his second goal of the game at 10:07 to give the homestanding Detroit Red Wings a 3-2 victory and snap the Caps' string of victories at nine. On the winning tally, Zetterberg forced his way towards the net and somehow squeezed the puck into the top corner off his backhand past Michal Neuvirth to provide all the Wings needed. If the puck had been fired an inch in any other direction, it wouldn't have made it into the net.

Zetterberg also opened the scoring at 12:23 on a wicked slap shot that whizzed by Neuvirth. Just 33 seconds later, though, the Caps' John Carlson unleashed a slap shot of his own to tie the score at one. Both shots went top shelf and gave the goalie no chance.

The Wings took the lead back at 14:45 when Valtteri Filppula tipped in a Brian Rafalski point shot. It was the prototypical Red Wings goal with lots of traffic in front and much pressure on the opposing team.

Alex Ovechkin scored the only goal of the middle frame at 5:53 when he scored on his trademark move: shooting the puck between the defenseman's legs past an unsuspecting goalie -- in this case, the Wings' Jimmy Howard, who otherwise had a very good game.

In a contest that certainly had a playoff vibe to it, the Caps truly played fantastically and were beaten by one of the best teams in the league. The Wings are a model of excellence and had their best stuff tonight. The Caps, playing in the second half of a back-to-back, threw all their cards on the table and were defeated by the Wings' ace in the hole: Zetterberg.

As they say, you can't win them all. But, in this case, the Caps sure got close to trying.