Caps Meet Devils in Sunday Rematch
Washington finishes a set of weekend matinee matches in Newark against the Devils
Washington takes to the ice on Sunday afternoon in Newark, playing a second straight matinee match against the New Jersey Devils. The Caps opened up a five-game road trip here on Saturday afternoon with a 5-2 victory over the Devils.
Sunday's game concludes a grueling stretch of nine games in 15 nights for Washington, and the Caps own a 5-2-1 record through that stretch thus far. They're 5-1-1 in their last seven games, and they have displayed better levels of consistency and cohesiveness in their overall game as of late as well.
Early in the season, the Caps struggled with their starts, they struggled in afternoon games, and they ended up losing a few games in which they built early multi-goal leads. Washington overcame each of those obstacles in Saturday's win, scoring three times in the first period and coasting to a 5-2 win over the Devils.
"I think with the [abbreviated] training camp, some new players, some injuries, and COVID, there's been a whole lot of things that I know a lot of teams have been dealing with," says Caps defenseman Brenden Dillon. "But for us specifically, we've been getting better every game with it, and you know Rome wasn't built in a day. We know that we've got enough skill to score goals. When we have the mentality that we want to defend hard and play well in the defensive zone, things seem to take care of themselves offensively.
"Today was a perfect example of that, where we can get the lead and not be chasing the game, when we can be smart and are not throwing pucks blind to the middle and you know turning things over, because that's usually when we get in trouble. Puck management in the offensive zone was something we really wanted to focus on. These guys are a fast team - and they can get their defenseman up in the rush too - and I thought we did a great job of shutting that down early."
After yielding an average of 3.77 goals per game in their first 13 games this season - and still managing a 6-4-3 record in the process - the Caps have gotten much stingier in the defensive zone since. They've trimmed their goals against per game to a tidy 2.14 in the last seven games, and they've also yielded fewer than 30 shots on net against in five of their last six games.
"We're definitely not satisfied still," says Caps defenseman John Carlson. "It's been better, I would say, but you can't say you're 'there' after [seven] games. We still have a lot to learn, a lot to clean up, a lot we can improve on, is the main thing. I think we're confident in our team, but we've got a long way to go."
New Jersey has played better on the road (5-2-1) than at home (2-5-1) this season, and the Capitals handed the Devils a fifth straight setback at Prudential Center on Saturday. The Devils have been outscored by a combined 20-9 during the life of their current home losing streak.
The Devils didn't fold up and go away after the Caps stormed their way to a 3-0 lead early in Saturday's game. New Jersey limited Washington to just 10 shots on net over the game's final 40 minutes, and the Devils held the Caps without any shots on net at all for a span of 18:10, from the midpoint of the second to almost the midpoint of the third.
New Jersey also crept to within a goal of the Caps at 3-2, before Jakub Vrana's breakaway goal and Nic Dowd's empty-netter finally put the contest out of reach in the back half of the final frame.
In addition to Saturday's loss, the Devils watched on in horror when newly appointed team captain Nico Hischier was felled by friendly fire in front of the Washington net in the early seconds of a New Jersey power play. The play occurred late in the third period, and Hischier had to be helped off while the ice crew came out to scrape the blood off the playing surface.
"I don't have an update," said Devils coach Lindy Ruff after Saturday's contest. "I talked to him briefly afterwards; he is going to be looked at. That moment was pretty scary obviously, and we're just hoping for the best."
