Caps Have Date with Devils
Washington takes to the road for four straight to close out October, starting with a Monday night game in New Jersey
For the first time this season, the Caps will face a Metropolitan Division opponent when they go up against the Devils in New Jersey on Monday night. The game is the first of four straight games on the road for Washington, which will end that road stretch next Monday with another Metro Division match-up against the Hurricanes in Carolina.
Six games into the young season, the Caps have won three of four at home but have dropped both of their road games thus far, losing in Toronto and Ottawa on consecutive Thursday nights. Against Ottawa this past Thursday, the Caps put together a strong first period and carved out a 2-0 lead on a pair of power play goals, but they were stymied by the Sens over the final 40 minutes, getting outshot 37-12 over that span and yielding five unanswered goals - the last two into a vacant net - in a 5-2 loss.
Returning home to host Los Angeles on Saturday night, Washington played a stellar defensive game. Through the game's first 40 minutes, the Capitals limited the Kings to just 13 shots on net, and a paltry total of three high-danger scoring chances, according to naturalstattrick.com. Los Angeles forwards had combined for only seven shots through two periods, with only four of those coming from inside of 30 feet from the Washington nets. Three separate times in the games' first 40 minutes, the Caps kept the Kings from registering a shot on net for a stretch of more than eight minutes.
But for the second time in as many home games, the Caps found themselves looking up at a two-goal deficit as they took the ice for the start of the third. And for the second time in as many home games, the Caps erupted for a four-goal third period to win themselves a hockey game. In doing so, they became the fifth team in NHL history to record two third-period, multi-goal comebacks within the first six games of the season.
"The score was the score at the end of two," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "Usually [the players] or I or we both together have a good idea of when we don't play well. It didn't feel like it was 2-0, and so we just stayed with it. We tried to press a little bit more, tried to be a little stronger on the forecheck.
"The big thing was putting more pucks toward the net and trying to generate more chances, whether it be the first chance, second chance, third chance. So there was definitely room for improvement after two periods, and I thought we did that. And that was a big comeback from 2-0 going into the third."
Early in the third, the Caps began pouring pucks on Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick, doing so deliberately and from distance in many instances. Each of Washington's first four shots of the third period came off the stick of a defenseman, and each came from a distance ranging from 55 to 91 feet. The fourth of those shots resulted in Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick freezing the puck and the Caps getting an offensive-zone draw, which in turn led to Washington's first goal of the game, from Nic Dowd at 3:11 of the third.
The Caps kept at it. John Carlson had already fired one of those long-distance drives - from 60 feet - on his first shift of the third period. On his next shift, he launched two more, one from 98 and the other from 97 feet away. Then Carlson cut loose of a 29-footer from in Los Angeles territory, and it glanced off Quick's glove and in, tying the game at 4:11. Carlson's goal, the 134th of his NHL career, ties him with Victor Hedman for sixth among all active blueliners.
"When both teams lock in the neutral zone, it tends to be an ugly game," says Laviolette. "You've got to chip it by. If you try to carry it by, it's turnovers. So you've got to put it behind [the opposition].
"I thought Carly did a nice job of maybe three times just dropping a bomb from center ice, and it kind of exploded off of [Quick] and those are tough to handle. We end up scoring a goal from it, and at least getting the zone time and spending it in the offensive zone."
In four home games this season, the Caps have yielded an average of 27 shots against per game, the ninth best rate in the NHL. But in their two road losses, their goalies had to work too hard, something they'll be seeking to improve upon with these four road contests to close out October.
With Charlie Lindgren making his Washington debut in Toronto on Oct. 13, the Caps gave up 39 shots in a 3-2 loss. A week later, the Senators poured 44 shots on the Washington net with Darcy Kuemper in the crease.
In seeking to curtail the number of shots on their net against New Jersey on Monday night, the Caps may be facing a tall task. Five games into the season, the Devils rank second in the circuit with an average of 39.2 shots on net per game.
New Jersey carries a three-game winning streak into Monday's game with the Capitals. After dropping a pair of 5-2 decisions to start the season at Philadelphia and in their home opener against Detroit, the Devils have reeled off three straight wins, allowing a grand total of four goals against in the process.
In their two losses at season's outset, the Devils split the netminding chores between MacKenzie Blackwood and ex-Cap Vitek Vanecek, but Blackwood has been between the pipes for the entirety of New Jersey's current winning streak. Monday's game against Washington is the front end of the Devils' first set of back-to-back games this season; New Jersey travels to Detroit for a Tuesday night date with the Red Wings.
