WASHINGTON -- The Washington Capitals had been injury-free this season until Friday night against the Detroit Red Wings when the odds caught up with them.

The Capitals lost three forwards in the first period, but Jay Beagle scored with 5:11 left in the game, Braden Holtby stopped 25 shots, and the Capitals defeated the Red Wings 1-0.

"I thought it was a real gutsy effort," Capitals head coach Barry Trotz said. "They tried to grind us down pretty good with their numbers. I thought we were resilient. When it was time to be committed, we were fully in."

Just moments after Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard made a nice save on Beagle in front of the net, Beagle swiped in the rebound of a Dmitry Orlov shot for his fourth goal of the season.

"(Orlov) puts a good shot onto the back pad and I just kind of spun around and saw a wide-open net so I just tried to get it as I was falling," Beagle said of the game-winner.

"Somehow, the puck had eyes, got through, went off my left skate, went right back out in front," Howard said of the rebound.

The Capitals played most of the game with only three forward lines after losing T.J. Oshie, Lars Eller and Andre Burakovsky to injuries in the first period.

"I got a flu shot today with one of our doctors. I said, 'knock on wood, we haven't had any injuries,' and we were talking about that, and how fortunate that was, and I should have just kept my mouth shut," Trotz admitted.

Trotz said all three had suffered upper-body injuries and would be evaluated Saturday. Washington hosts Columbus Sunday afternoon and may summon help from Hershey of the AHL.

Holtby made the lone goal stand up as he picked up his first shutout of the season and 24th of his career. With Howard pulled, Holtby made a great pad save on Gustav Nyquist with under a minute left.

"We're very privileged to have him and you see that save in the last (minute)," Tom Wilson said. "That's unbelievable and just shows that he's always there for us to bail us out and it's nice to get him the shutout."

Washington (11-4-2) has won the first two games of season-long five game homestand.

The Red Wings, 0-for-4 on the power play, have lost three straight and are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games.

"There's no question we should have scored on one of those power play looks," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "That ended up being the difference in the game."

After exploding for seven goals against the Penguins on Wednesday, the Capitals were stymied by Howard most of the night. He finished with 27 saves.

Washington picked up a five-minute power play when Danny DeKeyser was called for boarding at 8:29 of the first period. The Capitals came up empty as Howard made several saves and Washington's Justin Williams was called for hooking with 30 seconds remaining in DeKeyser's penalty.

The Red Wings' best chance came late in the period when Tomas Tatar took a pass behind the defense and was in alone, but Holtby's pad save kept the game scoreless.

Including a penalty that carried over from the first period, the Red Wings had the man advantage for over five minutes in the second period, but couldn't solve Holtby.

"When you're not scoring, you've got to find a way to be ferocious, get to the net, score dirty goals, score the ugly, greasy goals," Blashill said.

NOTES: Red Wings D Niklas Kronwall, who sat out Tuesday's loss to Tampa Bay, returned to the lineup. ... Detroit F Thomas Vanek (hip) is expected to return to the lineup on Sunday. ... LW Tyler Bertuzzi, 21, who was called up from Grand Rapids on Thursday, started on the fourth line with C Steve Ott and RW Drew Miller. Detroit scratched D Xavier Ouellet and D Brendan Smith. ... The Capitals are one of just seven NHL teams to play seven or fewer defensemen this season, and all seven have at least one point. ... Washington scratched D Taylor Chorney and F Daniel Winnik. ... On Nov. 18, 1926, the Red Wings franchise played its first game, losing 2-0 to the Boston Bruins.