Caps' Swift Start Drives Win Over Devils

Sluggish starts and afternoon games have been like rainy days and Mondays for the Capitals at times this season. But they overcame each of those issues on Saturday afternoon in Newark, taking down the New Jersey Devils by a 5-2 count in the opener of a five-game road trip.

Washington erupted for three first-period goals, from Garnet Hathaway, Daniel Sprong and Lars Eller, respectively, and fended off the Devils the rest of the way to claim its fifth victory in its last seven games (5-1-1).
"I liked the start, first of all," says caps coach Peter Laviolette. "It was an early game in that 12, 12:30, 1 o'clock time slot. We hadn't jumped out of the gate, so that was nice to see, that we were on point to start. I thought we defended pretty well; [goaltender] Vitek [Vanecek] made some pretty big saves when we needed them.
"I thought for the most part against a young team that's fast and has a good skill level, I thought we were pretty good defensively, and getting the win and starting the road trip off the right way."
The Caps came roaring out of the starting gate on Saturday afternoon, jumping the Devils early and tallying twice before the first television timeout of the first period. Washington's fourth line got the scoring spree started on its second shift of the afternoon.

The Caps broke out after a Devils turnover, Carl Hagelin sending Justin Schultz into New Jersey ice along the right-wing wall. Schultz patiently carried to the bottom of the circle, surveying for options as he skated. Garnet Hathaway came down his off wing and opened up to present himself as a viable target, Schultz put it in his wheelhouse and the Caps went up 1-0 at 3:36 of the first.
A minute and a half later, the Caps doubled their advantage. T.J. Oshie made a strong play along the right-wing half wall in the Devils' zone, blunting a New Jersey breakout bid and pushing the puck to John Carlson at the right point. Carlson went sharply to partner Brenden Dillon at the left point. From there, Dillon floated a wrist shot toward the net and Daniel Sprong - a late addition to the lineup when Evgeny Kuznetsov was a late scratch because of an upper body ailment - deflected it behind New Jersey netminder Mackenzie Blackwood, making it a 2-0 game at 5:06.
Washington made it a 3-0 game in the back half of the first. Conor Sheary forced a Will Butcher turnover at the Capitals' line, creating a 3-on-1 foray into the Devils' zone with Lars Eller carrying and Sheary trailing. Eller dropped it Sheary, who went back to Eller for the finish at 13:40 of the first, giving the Caps and Vanecek all the offense they would require on the afternoon.
The Devils didn't have much going on offensively in the first frame, but they got on the board on a late power play. Jack Hughes won a left dot draw back to P.K. Subban at the point, and Subban pounded a hard drive off the back wall and right to Nico Hischier, who snuck it short side on Vanecek at 18:16 of the first.
"The starts for these afternoon games has been something we've had to buckle down and focus on," says Dillon, "and today we got the start we wanted. The whole first period, we were really putting the puck to them and taking the game to them. And even after a little adversity there - they scored at the end of the period - I thought we defended hard and didn't give them too much the rest of the way."

The middle frame was a throwback period, reminiscent of mid-1990s Devils hockey, sluggish, bereft of flow and utterly sleep inducing. The two teams combined for a grand total of nine shots on net, with none of them coming in the back half of the period after Zdeno Chara's 57-footer at the exact midpoint of the period.
New Jersey closed to within a goal at 6:09 of the second, making it a 3-2 contest when Pavel Zacha scored from the slot on one of the Devils' few looks from the middle of the ice on the afternoon.
The Caps continued to nurse their one-goal lead through the early portion of the third, and when Blackwood made a nice save to stop Sheary from in tight just after the eight-minute mark of the third, it marked Washington's first shot on net in over 18 minutes.
Shortly after midpoint of the third, Washington got a welcome insurance strike when Carlson sprang Jakub Vrana on a breakaway. Vrana beat Blackwood at 11:09 to make it a 4-2 game.
Nic Dowd's empty-netter in the final minute accounted for the 5-2 final, Washington's second straight victory by that score.
"Obviously we weren't ready to play," says Devils coach Lindy Ruff. "We weren't ready to compete. We turned a lot of pucks over, and it looked like we wanted to be a little bit of a fancy team because our wall battles weren't great to start the game. But I thought the last 40 [minutes], that's the team I like to see. But a totally unacceptable first 20 [minutes]."
The Devils will get another crack at the Caps on Sunday afternoon when the two teams conclude a set of weekend back-to-backs.