DETROIT (AP) Andreas Athanasiou scored 4:06 into the third period and Petr Mrazek had 38 saves, lifting the Detroit Red Wings to a 1-0 win over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night.
Athanasiou scored his first career goal in his second NHL game from an improbable angle. He shot from the goal line near the left corner, getting the puck between goaltender Braden Holtby and the left post.
Holtby had 26 saves for the Capitals and appeared to get away with scooping a puck out of the net with his glove in the first period. The play was reviewed, but the no-goal call on the ice was upheld.
The Capitals started a power play with 5:08 left in the game, but couldn’t take advantage even with some Alex Ovechkin’s slap shots.
Ovechkin was on the ice for almost the entire 2-minute man advantage and had chances to score a milestone goal, but was denied by Mrazek. Ovechkin has 483 career goals, tying him with Sergei Fedorov for the most goals in the NHL by a Russian-born player.
Fedorov dropped the ceremonial first puck and embraced Red Wings star Henrik Zetterberg and Ovechkin, both of whom are former teammates, as he was honored a day after being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Fedorov was given a rousing, standing ovation before the game and was cheered again in the third period when highlights of his career were shown and he acknowledged the fans by waving from the owner’s suite.
The Capitals pulled Holtby with 1:15 left to add an extra skater and called timeout 12 seconds later, hoping to come up with a plan to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Detroit didn’t let Washington get a puck past Mrazek, who had his first shutout of the season and the sixth of his career.
The Red Wings have won four of their last five games despite scoring two or fewer goals in three of those victories.
Washington had won two straight, scoring a total of seven goals in those games, and was shut out for the first time in nearly a month.
NOTES: Fedorov lamented before the game that he didn’t stay in Detroit for his entire career. He left to sign with Anaheim as a free agent and later played for Columbus and Washington. “I’m going to blame the agents,” he said. ... Red Wings D Mike Green played against his former team for the first time. The Capitals drafted him in 2004 and he had 113 goals, tying for third among defensemen on the franchise’s all-time list with Calle Johansson.