Red Wings vs. Capitals final score: 3 things we learned from Detroit's 4-2 win

Justin Abdelkader scored twice and gave the Detroit Red Wings a 4-2 win on the road against the Washington Capitals.

Detroit's win featured their top line dominating action with Abdelkader putting up three points and Pavel Datsyuk with a goal and an assist in the third period to help put the game away. Henrik Zetterberg had two assists and Jimmy Howard stopped 25 shots to earn the win.

3 things we learned

1. Pavel Datsyuk is still pretty great. The game could've been billed as a showdown between Datsyuk and Alex Ovechkin, but it was Datsyuk who came away looking like the star. His assist to set up Abdelkader's game-winning goal in the third came when he drew the Caps defense all around him as he carried into the zone 1-on-4. Datsyuk's goal with under a minute to play and the Caps itchy to pull Braden Holtby made it academic.

2. Alex Ovechkin didn't notch a goal for the fifth consecutive game. The four-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner has never had a goal drought this long before in his NHL career and in the closing moments, he showed signs of frustration as he was cross-checking Red Wings players up until the final horn. You get the feeling that when Ovechkin snaps out of it, he's going to go on a monster tear.

3. Hitting the ice can pay off whether you meant to do it or not. We saw in the first period how Holtby's tumble to the ice turned into a Caps power play even though Red Wings forward Luke Glendening had nothing to do with it. That was followed up in the third period by a dubious fall to the ice by Wings forward Darren Helm when he felt Caps forward Joel Ward's stick near his skates.  Too bad we'll never get a look at the NHL's list of divers.