Caps Open Homestand vs. Devils
Caps host Devils and honor Nicklas Backstrom for his 1,000th NHL point on Saturday night
The Caps conclude a set of weekend back-to-backs and open up a four-game homestand on Saturday night when they host the New Jersey Devils. Prior to Saturday's game with the Devils, the Caps will honor center Nicklas Backstrom for recording his 1,000th career NHL point on March 9 in Edmonton.
Following a pair of home ice losses earlier in the week, the Caps made a quick trip to Buffalo for a Friday night date with the Sabres. Washington came away with a 4-3 shootout win over the Sabres, halting its two-game slide.
Alex Ovechkin tied the game at 3-3 late in the second period, scoring one second after Evgeny Kuznetsov won an offensive-zone face-off. Ovechkin's 41st goal of the season enabled Kuznetsov to extend his point streak to 11 straight games, and after a scoreless third, the two teams headed to overtime.
Buffalo had most of the possession and the scoring chances in the extra session, but Ilya Samsonov made five saves in the five minutes, and made a pair of good stops in the shootout as well. When both Kuznetsov and Ovechkin scored against Buffalo's Dustin Tokarski, the Caps came home with the two points.
"He was huge," says Caps defenseman Nick Jensen of Samsonov's Friday night outing. "He made some big saves that could have easily put us down by one. That's the kind of thing we need out of him and it was good to see, especially in the shootout."
With Friday's victory, the Capitals improved to 8-2-1 in the month of March. Three of Washington's last four wins have come in the shootout, and the Caps have been responsible for both of Buffalo's two shootout setbacks this season.
Now the Caps will seek to start the homestand on a strong note and sweep a set of back-to-backs for the second time in as many weeks when they host the Devils on Saturday.
"We want to roll into [Saturday] being battle tested in back-to-backs," says Jensen. "The back-to-backs are tough energy-wise, but at the same time you can kind of build off these games. Instead of taking a step back, you just keep pushing forward and get thrown right back into the mix again.
"It's something you've got to do on these back-to-backs. I think short shifts are going to be big again, and we've just got to keep our battle level high."
A night after Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin became just the ninth pair of NHL teammates to play as many as 1,000 games together in Calgary on March 8, Backstrom set up T.J. Oshie's power-play goal early in the third period in Edmonton, pushing his point total to quadruple digits in the process.
Washington will honor Backstrom and his achievement on Saturday when he and his family join Capitals president Dick Patrick and general manager Brian MacLellan on the ice for a special ceremony.
New Jersey comes to town for the second and final time this season on Saturday, finishing up a two-game road swing in the District after a 3-2 loss to the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Wednesday. The Devils will be seeking to halt a seven-game road slide on Saturday in Washington; their last win on the road was more than a month ago, a 6-1 spanking of the Penguins in Pittsburgh.
Since that win in the Steel City just over a month ago, the Devils have lost seven straight road games, all in regulation. New Jersey has been outscored by a combined total of 36-20 in those seven losses, and the Devils have yielded six or more goals against in four of the seven setbacks.
The Devils defeated the Caps 4-3 in overtime in their previous visit to the District this season, a Sunday matinee affair on Jan. 2 in the first game of calendar 2022 for both teams.
