Nov. 12 vs. New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio Network
Washington Capitals (10-6-0)
New Jersey Devils (13-6-0)
The Caps conclude a two-game road trip and kick off a set of home-and-home games with Metropolitan Division rival New Jersey on Thursday night in Newark. The Caps and the Devils will then meet again in Washington on Saturday night.
Washington started the trip with a positive result, stealing a 3-2 overtime win from the Senators in Ottawa on Tuesday night. The Caps played poorly but won, thanks to a stellar performance from Logan Thompson in net – particularly during a dismal second period – and a couple of clutch plays from 20-year-old rookie Cole Hutson, who set up the game-tying goal in the back half of the third before authoring the game-winner in the second minute of overtime.
With an assist on Hutson’s game-winning goal, Caps captain Alex Ovechkin tied Nicklas Backstrom (762) for the most assists in Washington’s franchise history. The 20-year-old Hutson became the third-youngest player – and youngest defenseman – in Washington’s franchise history to score an overtime game-winner; only Backstrom and Ovechkin were younger.
With 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists) in his first 30 NHL games, Hutson becomes the fastest Caps defenseman to 20 points to start his career, erasing Greg Theberge (33 games) from the franchise annals after a 45-year run.
“I've seen him continue to get better and better and better, especially with the puck offensively,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of the rookie defenseman. “What you're seeing is a young player with a ton of talent, an incredible world-class skill set, and I think early on when you're in this League – especially as an offensive defenseman – you're just gauging what you can do and how close you can get to defenders and where you can manipulate space.
“And then as you get more and more comfortable with the pace of the game, the size of the players, the stick length, the heaviness, I think that's where you've just seen Cole continue to get better, and better, and better. He's just getting acclimated with the League and his surroundings is essentially the way to describe it. And so, you see what he's capable of doing offensively, and I think it just continues to get a little bit better, a little bit better, a little bit better as he gets more comfortable and more games under his belt.
“The key area for Cole, which we'll continue to work with him on – and it is the old adage ‘Rome was not built in a day’ – is the other side of the puck, of making sure that he's doing a real good job with his closes, defending the rush, his stick positioning, his ability to use his feet, and not necessarily his strength to win one-on-one situations. So, all the stuff without the puck. Yes, we try to enhance and put him in a position to be successful offensively because that's his gift, and that's why he's going to be an elite NHL defenseman for years to come.”
Matt Roy scored the Caps’ first goal of the game on Washington’s first shot on net of the night, a mere 35 seconds after opening puck drop. Caps defensemen were part of the scoring of all three goals, and the Caps won a game in which they scored two or fewer goals for just the second time this season (2-5-0).
After outshooting the Sens 10-3 at even strength in the first period, Washington was outshot 19-6 at evens across the final 41-plus minutes of the contest. But thanks to the exploits of Thompson, the Caps remained within one shot of the Sens all night. It was just a matter of getting those shots; the first two of those last half dozen Washington shots came from 99 and 58 feet respectively, and then the Caps went more than 21 minutes of playing time without forcing Ottawa netminder Samuel Ersson to make a save.
Hutson set up Pierre-Luc Dubois’ tying marker at 12:31 of the third period, and the Caps didn’t put another shot on Ersson until Hutson’s game-winner at 1:14 of overtime.
Two starts after being pulled early in the second period of a Nov. 3 start against Dallas, Thompson was firmly on the beam in Tuesday’s win, his second in a row. He faced as many shots (17) in the second period as the Caps mustered in the game, and he made all eight saves needed in the other two frames, finishing with 23 saves and his seventh win of the season. He also has won consecutive starts for the first time since Oct. 7-9.
“I've had a lot of conversation with [goaltending coach] Scotty Murray and Carbs, too,” Thompson said before Tuesday’s game. “And I feel like a lot of my games have gone this way, where you end the game on a negative, and that's not on the team, that's not on the guys.
“It just seems like you know, like my last five or six games in a row, my last shot has been a goal against, right? Even going back to Jersey [on Oct. 17 in Washington], right? They score with 17 seconds left in the game, right? So, I’m trying just mentally to end on a positive and have a full 60. And there’s the Florida's game, right? You get out of that game without that goal there at the end, and it seems like something a goalie can build off of. But again, that's not a result that is on the team in front of me, that's just Logan Thompson having to put together a full 60.”
Logan Thompson put together a vintage 61 minutes and 14 seconds on Tuesday night, and thanks to the late exploits of Hutson, it was enough for the Caps to get out of town with two points.
With a pair of four-point games against the Devils looming on their immediate horizon, the Caps know they’ve got to be much better as they go up against the Metro Division rival Devils this weekend.
“First of all, you’ve got to give credit where credit's due,” says Caps winger Alex Tuch. “I thought Ottawa played a really strong game [Tuesday] night, and they’re a team that's deep and really good at making the game hard for the opponent when they're feeling it. It's hard to play against, so you have to sometimes be able to weather the storm.
“And I think that we did the greatest job of that. I think LT did the best job out of any of us. I think his job is to have our back, and our job is to have his back. And I thought he did a really good job of that, and he's feeling it, so it's great. But just to be able to stick with it and just stay in the game was huge.
“And then you say, ‘You know what? We made it 50 minutes and we're only down by one. Might as well just try to push. Maybe it’s not your A game or B game; maybe it's your C game, and you're able to tie it up and get at least a point out of it. And those matter. And being able to get that second point is huge, too. But I don’t think we ever were feeling sorry for ourselves or anything like that. We just kept trying to find our game, and it wasn't there until about halfway through the third.
“So, better late than never, but definitely something that we don't want to replicate. It might happen again; who knows? But yeah, just knowing that we probably needed to flip the script a little earlier in the game, would be nice, too.”
The Caps downed the Devils 4-2 on home ice last month, but New Jersey has been on a heater since then. And the Oct. 23 acquisition of goaltender Connor Hellebuyck from the Winnipeg Jets has elevated the Devils at the game’s most crucial position.
The Devils are 9-2-0 in 11 games since their last meeting with the Capitals, and Hellebuyck has been a huge part of that spree. He has won each of his first five starts (5-0-0) with New Jersey, posting a shutout – in his most recent start, Sunday in Toronto – along with a 1.96 GAA and a .913 save pct.
New Jersey just concluded a three-game road trip on Tuesday night in Winnipeg, falling 4-2 against the Jets in a game in which the Devils notoriously sat Hellebuyck against his former employer, citing a “reduction in our expected win probability.” Given that Hellebuyck is a three-time Vezina winner and former League MVP, and that Jake Allen entered Tuesday’s game against the Jets with more career losses (11) against them than any other franchise, those are some fascinating analytics.
Regardless of the pretzel analytics, expect Hellebuyck to start both upcoming games against Washington.
