Alexander Ovechkin is one of the league’s most deadly shooters that the NHL has to offer, notching his 39th goal of the season in overtime on Sunday against the Red Wings.

The game was back and forth on Sunday. The first goal of the day was recorded just under five minutes into the game from Jason Chimera past Jimmy Howard, which was quickly followed by a power play goal from Washington’s Joel Ward. The first period ended with three power play goals, two for the Capitals and one for the Wings. Gustav Nyquist got the goal for the Wings, which went on to be his first of three goals and four points in 19:03 of ice time.

“He’s always been great,” Zetterberg said about Nyquist. “He always creates a lot of stuff. (Now) he’s putting up the points too. It’s always fun to see him score. He does a lot of good things and he’s got the right the mindset.”

Tomas Tatar and Nyquist were on the front and back end of another Washington goal from Joel Ward, giving him and Nyquist both two on the evening by the end of the second period.

The game was 4-3 when Nyquist netted his third goal of the game just 42 seconds into the third period.

After Troy Brouwer and Justin Abdelkader netted both of their respective goals, the remainder of the third period went quickly. Michal Neuvirth faced 30 shots and was making a strong case against the Red Wings, with multiple saves on shots from Niklas Kronwall and Henrik Zetterberg.

In the overtime period, Alexander Ovechkin sealed the game for Washington with a slap shot just over the right pad of a moving Jimmy Howard.

“I was pretty much open,” Ovechkin said. “Sometimes it’s kind of boring when they put one guy close to you and you’re basically out of the game.”

Howard and the Red Wings shooters have struggled in both the shootout and overtime this season, losing eight of 12 in overtime and going 4-8 in the shootout itself.

“We showed some good resilience (Sunday),” said Howard said. “We found a way to come back, scrapping and clawing and getting a point. At the same time, we could’ve easily been walking out of here with two points. I’ve got to find a way to come up with a couple more saves for the guys.”

The Detroit Red Wings will take the ice again on Monday against the Vancouver Canucks at 7:30 p.m. as the Wings play at home for the last time before their final sendoff to the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games.

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Information from the Detroit Red Wings was used in this report.

For more information on the Detroit Red Wings and NHL hockey from analysts and journalists at Michigan State University – tune into Octopi Hockeytown podcasts and embrace the Spartan debate at www.impact89fm.org/sports.

Austin Goodman is a multimedia journalist at Impact Sports.

Scoring Summary:

1st Period:

WSH – 4:43 – J. Chimera (Wrist) J. Ward, C. Carrick

WSH – 7:20 PPG – J. Ward (Wrist) J. Chimera, C. Carrick

DET – 11:40 PPG – G. Nyquist (Wrist) D. Alfredsson, N. Kronwall

WSH – 16:05 PPG – J. Carlson (Slap) N. Backstrom, M. Erat

2nd Period:

DET – 13:30 – T. Tatar (Wrist) R. Sheahan, T. Jurco

WSH – 13:49 – J. Ward (Wrist) J. Chimera, C. Carrick

DET – 18:49 PPG – G. Nyquist (Tip-in) H. Zetterberg, T. Tatar

3rd Period:

DET – 0:42 – G. Nyquist (Tip-in) H. Zetterberg, N. Kronwall

WSH – 4:28 – T. Brouwer (Wrist) Unassisted

DET – 6:25 – J. Abdelkader (Backhand) G. Nyquist, H. Zetterberg

Overtime:

WSH – 2:37 PPG – A. Ovechkin (Slap) J. Carlson, N. Backstrom

Three Stars:

First: Gustav Nyquist

(3G, 1A, 4pts, +1, 5 shots, 19:03 TOI)

Second: Joel Ward

(2G, 1A, 3 shots, 1 hit, 14:48 TOI)

Third: Alex Ovechkin

(1G, -1, 5 shots, 2 hits, 24:05 TOI)