Red Wings defeat Capitals on Tatar's OT goal

WASHINGTON -- Tomas Tatar scored two goals, including the game-winner 2:47 into overtime, and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Washington Capitals 5-4 at Capital One Arena on Sunday.

Tatar skated into the zone on a 2-on-1 with Dylan Larkin, who slid a pass to him at the left post, and Tatar cut back to the right and scored on a backhand.
The goal came after Nicklas Backstrom scored a 6-on-4 goal with 16.7 seconds left in regulation to tie it 4-4, capping a three-goal rally for the Capitals in the third period. The Red Wings were coming off a 7-6 overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Friday in which they blew a 5-2 third-period lead.
WATCH: [All Red Wings vs. Capitals highlights]
"I was worried it might be the same story as against the Islanders," Tatar said. "You don't want that to happen. It felt really bad after the game [Friday] and if you have two in a row like that, that would be just miserable. So, I'm glad we got the two points."
Luke Glendening, Anthony Mantha and Tatar scored consecutive goals in a 2:56 span during the second period, and Jimmy Howard made 23 saves for the Red Wings (22-23-9), who ended a three-game losing streak (0-2-1).
Alex Ovechkin had a goal and an assist, and Braden Holtby made 24 saves for the Capitals (32-17-6), who have lost three of their past five (2-2-1).
Ovechkin put Washington up 1-0 at 4:20 of the first period with a power-play goal off a one-timer from the left circle.
Justin Abdelkader tied the game 1-1 at 13:37, scoring on a breakaway after Matt Niskanen misplayed the puck at center ice.
Glendening's rebound goal at 16:53 of the second period put Detroit ahead 2-1, and Mantha scored nine second later from in front off a pass from behind the net by Henrik Zetterberg to make it 3-1.
Tatar extended the lead to 4-1 with 10.8 seconds left in the second on a late rush, taking a drop pass from Larkin and shooting over Holtby's glove.

"It was a lot like the first two periods we played in New York," Larkin said. "The encouraging thing is we can play like that. We can have teams on the ropes, and good teams on the ropes."
Detroit outshot Washington 17-2 in the second period, including one from Larkin that hit the post at 6:18 and caromed off the back of Holtby's left leg and slid toward the open net before he recovered to clear the puck off the line.
"That was the worst [period] of the year by far. Guys were not happy in between periods," Washington forward Brett Connolly said. "We're trying to build our game up here. Obviously, we got a point. That's a positive. But guys are not happy in the room. Not good."
Connolly scored at 2:32 of the third period to cut the lead to 4-2.
Dmitry Orlov made it 4-3 at 14:02 on a one-timer from the right circle.

Howard stopped T.J. Oshie's wrist shot with a glove save 30 seconds into overtime and made another on Andre Burakovsky in front two minutes into the period.
"It was just, 'All right, we've got 17 seconds and then overtime,'" Larkin said. "We go to OT and we had our plan. They got some chances there, but [Howard] came up big, and then we had our one chance and [Tatar] made a great play."

Goal of the game

Tatar's goal at 2:47 of overtime

Save of the game

Howard's save on Oshie 30 seconds into overtime

Highlight of the game

Holtby's save on Larkin at 6:18 of the second period

They said it

"You don't like giving up the lead, but I thought the story of the game for me was, I think a lot of people expected us to fold after a tough game. And we've had some tough ones. You get kicked and you get back up, and I thought we got back up real well." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill
"This league tests you way too much to take any time off, any periods off. I thought we showed a lot of character to battle back and do the right things in terms of not mail it in. We dug in and we got a point out of it and a little bit lucky to get that point out of it because we dug ourselves such a hole." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz

Need to know

Red Wings defenseman Trevor Daley sustained an upper-body injury after blocking an Ovechkin shot with 39 seconds left and did not play in overtime… Mike Green played his 200th NHL game with Detroit. Green previously played 575 with the Capitals… Ovechkin scored his League-leading 33rd goal, matching his total from last season.

What's next

Red Wings: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-D, PRIME, NHL.TV)
Capitals: At the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)