Gustav Nyquist slapped a shot, had it bounce back to him in the air, then knocked it into the net for the first goal of the game.

My brother, father, and I watched the game together on my dad’s birthday. “We could not be stopped.”

The Red Wings overcame three first period penalties. However, two more later in the second after Gus’ goal gave the Washington Capitals enough chances, as they scored on both. A penalty on them allowed us to start the third up a skater trailing 2-1.

My brother pointed out how much more we’re scoring in the third period this season as opposed to last. His prophecy came true as Detroit poured in three more goals the rest of the way.

Four minutes into the final period, Justin Abdelkader scooped up a lost puck in front of Washington’s net and sent it home for the tie game. He wasn’t done. Halfway through the third, Henrik Zetterberg passed to Pavel Datsyuk, who dumped it back to Abdelkader for the lead.

With less than four minutes left, my brother again prophesied that all we needed to do was not get a penalty. Low and behold, Datsyuk was sent to the penalty box on a weak tripping call. “Tripping,” indeed. Luckily, forty seconds later, a Capital player committed his own infraction to even the sides. This created the perfect storm for Datsyuk, who came out of the box with an advantage and a chip on his shoulder. Pavel fired one past everyone, taking the top left shelf and icing the game.

Zetterberg picked up another assist with under a minute to play. The Red Wings won behind the unsung goalie, Jimmy Howard, 4-2.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

“We can not be stopped.”