Caps Start Trip in Jersey
Playing for third time in four nights, Caps start six-game trip in New Jersey, seeking third straight win
Just over a month ago, the Caps took a quick one-game road trip to New Jersey for a Monday night date with the Devils on Oct. 24 at Prudential Center. The Caps were 3-3-0 on the still young season to date at that point, and the Devils were 3-2-0, coming into the contest with a three-game winning streak.
Washington surged to a 5-1 lead after two periods that night, but New Jersey did not mail in the final frame. The Devils outshot the Capitals 14-4 in the third period, closing to within 5-3 before the third period was halfway over, and it took some excellent goaltending from Charlie Lindgren to keep the Devils at arm's length until Aliaksei Protas scored with just under four minutes left to relieve the pressure, getting the Capitals out of town with a 6-3 victory.
New Jersey used that frantic third period as a springboard for a 13-game winning streak that was halted on Wednesday night when the Toronto Maple Leafs trimmed them by a 2-1 count. The Devils got back on the winning beam on Friday night in Buffalo, skating off with a 3-1 victory over the Sabres to move to 14-1-0 since they last faced the Capitals.
Washington went in the opposite direction, winning only five of 15 games (5-7-3) since then, and needing to win each of its last two games to do so. On Saturday night, the Caps return to New Jersey for the second and final time this season, seeking to string together three straight victories for the first time this season. Meanwhile, the Devils will be seeking to expand upon the six-point bulge they've built over the New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division standings.
Both teams will be playing for the third time in four nights tonight, and Washington is seeking to run the table, hoping to get its six-game road trip off on the good foot, as the late, great James Brown would say.
Darcy Kuemper stopped all 32 shots he faced to record his 27th career shutout, and he got offensive support from T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin as the Caps cruised past Calgary 3-0 in the finale of a three-game homestand.
"I thought he did an excellent job," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of Kuemper, whose shutout was his second of the season and the fourth of his career against the Flames.
In winning his previous start over Philly by a 3-2 count in overtime, Kuemper was less than pleased with the two goals he allowed that night.
"We talked after the game the next day, and he was disappointed," says Laviolette. "Oftentimes through the course of the season, it's your goalie who bails you out in different ways. It was nice that the team got it done and we were able to win a hockey game, but in the same sense I think a veteran goalie like that that's been around and knows how to be successful, he came in with a purpose today and he played really well."
Kuemper and the Caps weathered a 15-shot Calgary barrage in the first, and Erik Gustafsson's sublime feed to set up Oshie gave the big netminder all the offense he would require. Late in the second, Kuznetsov scored a dazzling goal from the seat of his pants, carving through three Calgary defenders on his way to the net, after a couple good plays in neutral ice from linemates Sonny Milano and Oshie.
Washington didn't have much room or time and space with which to operate all afternoon, and it needed to execute perfectly on each of its goals, which it did.
"They're good at that," says Laviolette of the Flames. "They're man on man coverage a lot of times in the d-zone, and they're tight with their coverage. They play and aggressive game; it's physical and so the spaces that you do get, oftentimes there's bodies on you, there's sticks on you and you're under duress. That's what Gus was when he went in and even Kuzy when he went in, he had to split two guys that were draped on him, a really beautiful goal. But there were plays and passes made even before that, so I thought we did a really good job of moving the puck."
Now the Caps take their game to the road, seeking to shake off a five-game road losing streak (0-3-2). The League's best road team last season at 25-10-6, Washington enters tonight's game with a 2-6-2 road record, 29th in the circuit.
New Jersey downed Buffalo last night in a 7:30 p.m. game in western New York, the Devils' ninth straight road victory. At 9-1-0, the Devils boast the NHL's best road mark this season.
Akira Schmid had the net for the Devils in Buffalo on Friday, so the Caps are virtually certain to go up against old friend Vitek Vanecek tonight in Newark. Vanecek is 9-2-0 on the season, tied for sixth in the NHL in wins. Among the 30 NHL netminders with at least 10 appearances to this juncture of the season, Vanecek ranks second with a nightly average of 3.84 goals per game in offensive support.
Over the life of their 13-game winning streak, the Devils outscored the opposition by a combined total of 56-24. They yielded as many as three goals in only three of the 13 games, and never gave up more than three. New Jersey scored four or more goals in 10 of the 13 games. Ten of the wins came in regulation, and none were achieved vis the shootout.
