RECAP: Red Wings battle, but can't keep up with Capitals late en route to 4-1 loss

WASHINGTON -- Eleven days after competing hard for two periods but ultimately not being able to stop the Washington Capitals from pulling away in the third, the Detroit Red Wings unfortunately saw a similar script play out in a 4-1 loss at Capital One Arena on Tuesday night.

"That's two games against this team that we were in and they found a way to win, but we didn't," J.T. Compher said. "Every point is important right now. We know how crucial every game is."

Goalie Petr Mrazek, making his fourth straight start, stopped 22 shots for the Red Wings (32-30-6; 70 points), while netminder Logan Thompson finished with 23 saves for the Capitals (45-15-8; 98 points).

"We pushed a first-place hockey club, a 100-point team, and had every opportunity to try and come away with a victory," Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. "It feels like we lost it by so much, but that wasn't the case. It was a five-minute span in the game that cost us, and we got to clean all that up."

Taking advantage of a screened Mrazek, Dylan Strome struck first for Washington with a wrist shot from the point to make it 1-0 at 6:36 of the first period.

Captain Dylan Larkin’s 28th goal of the season pulled Detroit even with 7:32 left in the first period. After Ben Chiarot intercepted the puck in the neutral zone and sped into the offensive zone, the veteran defenseman sent one in that went off Thompson and Larkin quickly cleaned up the rebound to make it 1-1.

Larkin also secured his fourth straight 60-point campaign, becoming the first Red Wings player to do so since Henrik Zetterberg (7 from 2005-06 to 2011-12). It's also the sixth time in his NHL career that Larkin has accomplished the feat.

Although Detroit outshot Washington, 11-7, in the second period, the clubs entered the second intermission still seeing a deadlocked 1-1 scoreboard.

Breaking up the tie for the Capitals, Pierre-Luc Dubois brought the puck into the offensive zone and fired home a shot from the middle of the left face-off circle to give his club what proved to be its first and final lead of the night (2-1) at 8:16.

"They get one there on the outside, a shot that goes in," Larkin said. "Then we kind of just self-imploded."

Tom Wilson and Connor McMichael scored 1:06 apart not long after the halfway mark of the third period for the 4-1 final.

"I thought we started slow and had to play catch up a little bit in the first period," McLellan said. "But after that, I thought we played a real good game and we did that part of it ourselves. Then at the end of the night, they get one at 2-1 and we got to live with that. It happens sometimes. The third [goal] is the one that makes no sense to me. We get beat up ice again. We don't even put ourselves in position where we get to pull the goaltender. That's got to get fixed. That's the only way we're going to improve as a hockey club to rebound from things that don't go our way, and to have that happen is disappointing."

Elmer Soderblom (undisclosed) didn’t return after exiting with 7:07 to go in the third period, but McLellan didn’t have a postgame update on the 23-year-old forward.

Alex DeBrincat, who has produced a team-high 31 goals this season, played in his 600th career NHL contest on Tuesday, which kicked off a four-game road trip for Detroit.

"There's still time," Larkin said. "It hasn't gone our way, but we've responded. We talked about that before. I wish we would have capitalized tonight. It felt like we were right there to get points again. It's hard, to be honest with you, to be coming back up here and saying that every night. We just did it to ourselves tonight. We go on the road now, and we got to find a way to start winning hockey games."

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will take on the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night.

POSTGAME QUOTES

McLellan on age versus experience for players as they learn down the stretch

"I don't think age is a big thing. Sometimes, experience is a little bit. Learning to deal with the tension that's around the hockey club, but from my understanding this team has been through it before. What lessons did they learn last year and what are they carrying over through? We're trying to figure that out. Our response to our losing streak was impressive, in my opinion. We played hard. Didn't have the best game in Carolina, but they're a real good hockey club."

Larkin on the way the third period played out and Tuesday's game overall

"When it's 2-1, we got to find a way to get on the attack and generate offense. You don't do that by cheating. You do that by playing the game the right way, and we didn't do that tonight. A very similiar feeling to the last time we were in here."

Larkin's additional thoughts on the third period

"That's a good hockey team over there, but we're right there in that game. We got to find a way to get points in a tight game like that. A game where your goalie has kept you in it, and then we leave him out to dry in the third [period]."

Compher on Tuesday coming down to a 5-on-5 game

"When we managed the puck throughout the game, I feel like we were getting scoring chances. When we were a little loose with it, they were turning it back on us. That's a good, veteran team that is playing well right now and found a way to win."