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Fucale posts shutout in NHL debut, Capitals blank Red Wings

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Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Washington Capitals goalie Zach Fucale stops a Detroit Red Wings left wing Tyler Bertuzzi (59) shot in the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

DETROIT ā€“ Zach Fucale became the first goaltender in Capitals history to post a shutout in his NHL debut, stopping 21 shots as Washington beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-0 Thursday night.

Dmitry Orlov and Lars Eller scored 10 seconds apart in the first period as the Capitals ended Detroitā€™s three-game win streak.

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The 26-year-old Fucale was picked by Montreal in the second round of the 2013 draft. He was 3-0-2 this season for Hershey before the Capitals called him up this week from the American Hockey League.

ā€œI canā€™t dream it better, to be honest,ā€ Fucale said. ā€œThis is a really great moment. At the end of the day, itā€™s a great win, and itā€™s been a hell of a journey.

ā€œBut now one is out of the way, we move on and we go to the next game. Thatā€™s the reality of it.ā€

Fucale was the first goaltender to shut out the Red Wings in his NHL debut in Detroitā€™s 95 seasons. He came up big early as Detroit controlled play for the first 8 minutes.

ā€œHe was good, he was sharp,ā€ Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. ā€œAnd then even through the course of the rest of the game, there was a couple big saves that he had to make in there.ā€

Alex Ovechkin had an assist on the first goal for the Capitals, who opened a stretch of seven games in 11 days.

Orlovā€™s second goal of the season came off a pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov at 12:43.

Eller scored his first goal after a takeaway from Nick Jensen.

ā€œI thought we were playing our game until they got the two goals, and then they packed it in,ā€ Red Wings center Dylan Larkin said. ā€œAfter that, we didnā€™t execute. We didnā€™t get the puck to the net and we didnā€™t create enough.ā€

Thomas Greiss made 27 saves for the Red Wings, who killed four penalties but could not convert on their four power-play chances.

ā€œWe didnā€™t shoot enough, and we didnā€™t get to pucks in front of the net,ā€ Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. ā€œThere were some rebounds and some shots that got blocked and ended up in front ā€“ we didnā€™t get there.ā€

DREAM DRIVE

Fucale found out he was starting on Wednesday night and his father, Jack, drove down from Montreal. His mother, Catherine, came from Toronto, where she was working.

ā€œThey kind of just met here, some family friends made it as well,ā€ Zach Fucale said. ā€œIā€™m real happy. This is really cool that theyā€™re here.ā€

Fucale got a big dousing of water from teammates upon entering the locker room after the win.

NOTES

Capitals: Fucale was the fifth Capitals player to make his NHL debut this season. ā€¦ Washington was without T.J. Oshie (left foot) for the sixth straight game, Anthony Mantha (shoulder) for the third straight game and Nic Dowd for the first game since Mondayā€™s lower-body injury against Buffalo. Nicklas Backstrom (hip) has not played this season.

Red Wings: Detroit was going for its first four-game win streak since March 2019.

UP NEXT

Capitals: Play at Columbus on Friday.

Red Wings: Host Montreal on Saturday.

___

More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports


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