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The Capitals came to life early thanks to their Captain, Alex Ovechkin‘s rebound tally starting the game’s scoring 34 seconds into the contest. After a back and forth opening twenty minutes Washington put their foot on the gas pedal and closed out their Metropolitan division rivals 6-2. A three goal third period gave the Verizon Center crowd reason to breathe easy as Braden Holtby snagged 26 Devils shots in the win.
Ten more notes on the game:
- Ovechkin’s early goal got the crowd on their feet, the hot scorer firing a Troy Brouwer rebound past Cory Schneider‘s blocker side. The Captain brought the Verizon Center to life less than a minute into the game and extended his goal and point scoring streak to three straight games.
- The Devils‘ two goals came from Damon Severson, the rookie defensemen pumping eight shots on net in a little under 22 minutes of work. Both of Severson’s goals came from the right point and seemed to find their way through both defensemen and Hotlby.
- Chris Brown scored his first goal of the year with a short-sided slapper that caught the upper right corner behind Schneider. An unexpected half wind-up seemed to catch the Devils’ goaltender slightly off his angle and the third year pro didn’t miss his mark.
- Holtby’s left arm save on Jaromir Jagr with less than a minute to play in the first period was both huge and necessary. A nice passing play between Travis Zajac and Marek Zidlicky put the puck on a tee for the former Cap, only for him to be stopped cold. It was a huge save to prevent what could’ve been an intermission deflater.
- John Carlson skated in his 300th consecutive game for the Capitals but had a relatively quiet night across the stat lines, only registering two shots. However, with a 6-2 win at home against a hot New Jersey group, there’s not to much to criticize tonight. Here’s to another three hundred healthy contests.
- Marcus Johansson tallied his second goal of the season in the second period, giving the Swede goals in back to back games. The score developed off of good board play between Johansson and Brooks Laich before the former put it off the left post and in. It would be the only goal of the middle frame.
- Not to be outdone on home ice, fellow Swede Nicklas Backstrom put the Capitals up by two with a deft deflection past Schneider’s left leg less than a minute into the third. Andy Greene couldn’t contain the Caps’ big centerman and he touched Matt Niskanen ‘s shot home around New Jersey’s netminder.
- The luckiest bounce of the night belonged to Joel Ward, his awkward bounce off the end boards caught Schneider napping less than three minutes after Backstrom’s goal. Schneider’s inattention to detail earned Scott Clemmensen the Devils’ crease with a little more than sixteen minutes left to play. It didn’t stop the Capitals’ offense…
- Andre Burakovsky extended his three game point streak to four tonight with his third period power play goal against Clemmensen. Burakovsky received a pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov below the net and put a wrist shot past the Devils’ back-up to send New Jersey packing.
- Niskanen registered his first two points in a Washington sweater, the former Penguins defenseman providing the primary on Backstrom’s tally and a secondary on Burakovsky’s. Mike Green and Brooks Orpik also tallied two assist from the blue line. Welcome to the DC scoresheets Matt, we’re excited to have you here.
Washington’s regulation win pulls them even with the Devils in the Metropolitan standings with six points on the young season and still without a regulation loss. It was refreshing to see the Capitals’ killer instinct in the third period, Barry Trotz’s club unyielding and unmerciful in the final frame.
Game Highlights: