Wilson scores 30th goal, Capitals pull away from Red Wings


WASHINGTON -- Tom Wilson scored his 30th goal of the season in the Washington Capitals' 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Capital One Arena on Tuesday.

Dylan Strome had a goal and an assist for the Capitals (45-15-8), who have won seven of eight and are first in the Metropolitan Division, 12 points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes. Aliaksei Protas had two assists and Logan Thompson made 23 saves.

“We’re a big chunk of the games into the season and we’re playing well,” Wilson said. “It’s the most important time of the year. We’ve put ourselves in a good spot here. We’ve just got to stay dialed in and make sure we’re playing our best hockey over the next month plus.”

Alex Ovechkin had an assist and remains eight goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL record of 894.

Dylan Larkin scored for the Red Wings (32-30-6), who are 2-2-0 in their past four games and are three points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Petr Mrazek made 22 saves.

“Yeah, there’s still time. It hasn’t gone our way, but we’ve responded,” Larkin said. “I wish we would’ve capitalized tonight, and it felt like we were right there to get points again. It’s hard, to be honest, coming back up here and saying that every night, but we just did it to ourselves tonight again.”

Strome gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 6:36 of the first period, scoring on a high wrist shot through a screen from the point.

“We’ve done a better job [lately] of getting off to good starts,” Strome said. “I thought we controlled play for most of the first period, and kind of carried it throughout the game.”

Larkin tied it 1-1 at 12:28 when he scored from the bottom of the left circle off the rebound of Ben Chiarot’s shot.

Thompson made a sliding save to stop Larkin on a 2-on-1 rush 33 seconds into the third period.

“Just a 2-on-1 play,” Thompson said. “Something I’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks. I thought I read it well. He fired it into me. Sometimes they pick a corner and today it hit me.”

Pierre-Luc Dubois gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 8:16 of the third period when he carried into the offensive zone and scored far side on a wrist shot from the left face-off dot.

Wilson made it 3-1 at 14:21 when he scored from the slot off a pass from Protas for his 30th goal of the season. His previous high was 24 in 2021-22.

“I never really thought too much about it and then when you get close it’s something you really want to do,” Wilson said of reaching 30. “I truly think it’s a testament to some great players that I’ve played with this year. It’s just been a fun year.”

Connor McMichael scored from in front after a pass from Ovechkin to make it 4-1 at 15:27.

“Frustrating,” Chiarot said. “Kind of happening too often where we put a good 40 or so minutes together and then have things kind of come unraveled on us. So, it’s something guys have got to learn from and get better at in those games, those tight games.”

NOTES: Thompson improved to 30-4-5 and matched the fewest regulation losses by a goaltender in NHL history at the time of his 30th victory (Tiny Thompson, 1929-30; Bill Durnan, 1943-44; Linus Ullmark, 2022-23). ... There were no penalties called in the game. … The Capitals lead the NHL with 95 third-period goals. … Wilson has recorded 22 points (ten goals, 12 assists) in his past 17 games. The 30-year-old became the third player in NHL history to have played at least 800 regular-season games before recording his first 30-goal season. … Red Wings forward Elmer Soderblom left the game with about eight minutes remaining after a collision with Capitals forward Andrew Mangiapane. There was no update on Soderblom after the game.