NHL outdoor game

Detroit and Kasper lose in front of over 94,000 fans

In front of the second largest crowd in the history of the North American ice hockey league NHL, Carinthian Marco Kasper and the Detroit Red Wings suffered a defeat.(Bild: AFP/APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Jason Mowry)

In front of the second largest crowd in the history of the North American ice hockey league NHL, Carinthian Marco Kasper and the Detroit Red Wings have conceded defeat. In an outdoor game in front of 94,571 fans at Ohio Stadium, the Red Wings lost 3:5 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. The only time there were more spectators at an NHL game was on January 1, 2014 with 105,491 spectators at Michigan Stadium in Detroit's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Two days after the 2:5 home defeat, Detroit also failed to win away from home against their neighbors in the table and direct rivals for a play-off spot. Denton Mateychuk (26) gave the home side the lead in the huge football stadium. The best powerplay team since the start of the year struck back in overtime, with Alex DeBrincat equalizing with his 28th goal of the season (34').

Ovechkin with goal no. 884
A short time later, Columbus pulled 3:1 ahead thanks to a double strike from Dimitri Voronkov and Mathieu Olivier within 32 seconds (38.). Detroit managed to equalize again thanks to Patrick Kane (43) and DeBrincat (57), but Justin Danforth (58) and Adam Fantilli (59) fired Columbus to victory. Kasper received 19 minutes of ice time.

Alexander Ovechkin is now just ten goals shy of Wayne Gretzky's all-time record. The 39-year-old Russian scored his 884th goal in the NHL basic round in the Washington Capitals' 3-1 home defeat against the Tampa Bay Lightning, while Gretzky is still number one with 894. The Washington forward scored against Tampa Bay to make it 1-2 (57th) and now has 31 goals on the season.