Detroit’s Cam Talbot allowed five goals on 29 shots, falling apart just after the second intermission. Dylan Larkin and Moritz Seider had given the Red Wings — who are trying to get one of the East’s two wild-card spots — a lead, but they could not hold on and lost ground in the playoff race with their fifth consecutive loss.

Ovechkin hit the empty net to seal a 4-2 win over Seattle and move within nine goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record.