Samsonov and Caps Blank Devils, 4-0

Ilya Samsonov stopped all 24 shots sent in his direction on Friday night against New Jersey, recording the second shutout of his NHL career in a 4-0 victory over the Devils. Alex Ovechkin scored twice, bookending goals from Nicklas Backstrom and Conor Sheary as Washington downed the Devils for the second time in as many nights, and for the sixth time in as many games this season.

Friday's win lifts the Caps to a 16-3-1 record over their last 20 games, and Washington's record of 22-7-4 is third best in the league from a points percentage (.727) standpoint.
"Like I've said before, it's not always perfect," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "But I liked the start; I thought we were good early. The third period I really liked too, especially after playing the night before. I think we really got a lot out of the bench, and I think the guys really played a smart game in the third period."
Washington scored twice in the first and twice in the third, and it killed off a trio of New Jersey power plays in a span of just under 13 minutes from midway through the middle frame to early in the third period.
"We played with speed, we forechecked them well," says Washington winger Tom Wilson. "We've got experience on our side and we wanted to take it to them early, take away their time and space and I think for the most part we did it. We played good against their top guys and went from there, scored some timely goals and just took it to them."

Ovechkin got the Caps started on a sublime give-and-go play with Kuznetsov in the first. Washington has feasted off the Devils in transition this season, and Ovechkin collected a loose puck in Washington ice and barreled his way through the neutral zone and into New Jersey ice before leaving the puck for Kuznetsov high in the zone. Kuznetsov carried to the left dot before issuing a silky return feed through traffic, and Ovechkin wristed it home at 5:58 to supply Samsonov with all the support he would require on this night.
Just under six minutes later, the Caps' second line got in on the scoring act with a pretty goal of its own, working a little tic-tac-toe down low, Conor Sheary to Wilson to Nicklas Backstrom for the back door tap in and a 2-0 Washington lead at 11:50.
The second was scoreless, as the Caps and Samsonov mainly kept the Devils' power play at bay. The sophomore netminder was sharp on Friday, and he seems to be getting a bit sharper and more dialed in with each appearance. Most pucks stuck to him in Friday's whitewash; and on the few challenging stops he needed to make he made them look easy. He has now won six of seven starts since coming off the COVID list with a 3-2 win over the Devils in New Jersey on Feb. 28.
Whatever hope the Devils may have harbored for a comeback in the third was vanquished by the Caps pretty early on. Washington snuffed out a New Jersey power play without as much as a shot on net early in the frame, and the Devils' five shots in the final frame were scattered minutes apart, with three of them coming from 60 or more feet away.
Sheary struck for Washington's third goal of the night at 7:13 of the third, ripping a shot to the shelf from the left circle after Backstrom forced a turnover by interrupting a New Jersey breakout, and after Wilson teed it up for him.

As the period wore on, Washington maintained firm control on the contest and mustered one more pretty tally late in the game, Ovechkin's second of the night. The Caps came 200 feet for this one, Justin Schultz breaking it out from behind the Washington cage, T.J. Oshie carrying into New Jersey ice and stickhandling his way through a cluster of five white sweaters in the middle of the zone and leaving it for Kuznetsov, who quickly set up Ovechkin for a one-timer from his left dot office at 16:28, the captain's 10th goal in his last 10 games.
"I asked the team to empty the tank after the first period," says Devils coach Lindy Ruff. "Obviously it was a period where we didn't play well. As a team, we didn't skate well so we tried to apply a little bit more pressure.
"I thought we got the most we could out of everybody, but I think if you watch some of the execution - some of the shots - we were slow to release. A couple of the power play shots that normally I think we would finish, we just took too long to get off. Those types of plays are - for me - are just fatigue in your game."