This Date in Caps History - February 24

On February 24, 1987, the Capitals thumped the Detroit Red Wings by an 8-2 score at the Capital Centre in Landover.

Washington unleashed an offensive fury against Red Wing netminder Greg Stefan. Bobby Gould netted his 18th of the season at 2:45 of the first. Dave Christian scored his 17th at 5:48. Mike Ridley scored his 26th on a Washington power play at 14:27 and Dave Jensen’s fourth of the season made it 4-0 Washington at 18:39. The Caps outshot the Wings 10-8 in the period.

Washington continued its onslaught when Mike Gartner scored his 31st of the campaign at the 53-second mark of the second stanza. Jensen’s second of the game came at 1:31 and it chased Stefan from the nets. Glen Hanlon took over between the Detroit pipes with the Wings down 6-0. With a minute remaining in the second, Alan Haworth scored his 20th goal of the season – a power play strike – to push the Washington lead to 7-0. The Caps held an 11-9 advantage in shots on goal in the second period.

Detroit’s Tim Higgins broke the shutout spell when he beat Caps netminder Pete Peeters at the 30-second mark of the third period. Brent Ashton scored the Wings’ second goal of the night at 13:17. Gartner’s second of the game closed out the scoring at 16:53. The Wings outshot the Caps 17-9 in the third and 34-30 on the night.

Gould earned first star honors on the strength of his first period goal and overall strong play. Jensen’s two goals were good enough to get him the second star designation and Ridley attained third star status with a goal and an assist.