Ovechkin scores twice, Capitals shut out Devils

WASHINGTON -- Alex Ovechkin scored twice for the Washington Capitals in a 4-0 win against the New Jersey Devils at Capital One Arena on Friday.

Ovechkin has scored nine goals in his past eight games for Washington (22-7-4), which has won nine of 10.
"It's really impressive," Capitals forward Conor Sheary said. "I think he took it to heart when everybody was saying he had a bad start. He's probably the hottest guy in the League right now. It seems like every shot he takes is dangerous, and it's just amazing how many opportunities he's able to get and how many goals he's able to score."

Sheary had a goal and an assist, and Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves for his first shutout of the season for the Capitals.
Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves for New Jersey (12-16-4), which was swept in the back-to-back set. Washington won 4-3 here Thursday.
"Well, we lacked energy for sure," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said after their fifth game in seven days. "I don't know whether the schedule caught up to us, but it was teamwide, and when you don't have energy you're not skating as well, you're not executing as well. We made some poor decisions early before we could even get into the game, and those decisions hurt us dearly."
Several of New Jersey's best chances came in the opening minutes, but Samsonov made saves that set the tone.
"Anytime you get some early good saves, you feel more comfortable and stay in the game," Samsonov said. "I like it. ... I think every goalie likes it."
Ovechkin gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 5:58 of the first period. He entered the offensive zone and dropped the puck to Evgeny Kuznetsov above the left face-off circle, took a return pass across the slot and scored on a wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle.
Nicklas Backstrom scored off a pass across the crease from Tom Wilson to make it 2-0 at 11:50.
"I think we played with speed," Wilson said. "We forechecked them well. We've got experience on our side and we wanted to take it to them early, take away their time and space. I think for the most part we did it."

The Devils outshot the Capitals 11-5 in the second period, when neither team scored.
"I asked the team to empty the tank after the first period," Ruff said. "Obviously, it was a [first] 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. I think if you watch some of the execution and some of the shots, we were slow to release a couple power-play shots."
Sheary extended the lead to 3-0 at 7:13 of the third period when he beat Wedgewood from the left circle after Backstrom forced a turnover by Mikhail Maltsev near the Devils blue line.
Ovechkin made it 4-0 on a one-timer from the left circle at 16:28 for his 17th goal of the season.
"When we track hard, we don't give them much," New Jersey forward Travis Zajac said. "I don't know if we gave them too much, but the chances we did [give them], they're a good team because they've got guys who know how to put the puck in the back of the net."
NOTES: Ovechkin has scored 723 NHL goals and is eight behind Marcel Dionne for fifth in history. It was Ovechkin's 148th multigoal game, passing Gordie Howe for fourth. … Wilson and Kuznetsov each had two assists. Kuznetsov has scored 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his past nine games. … The Capitals are 13-0-0 this season when allowing two or fewer goals. … New Jersey is 0-5-1 against Washington this season. … Devils forward Jesper Bratt's point streak ended at six games. … New Jersey was 0-for-3 on the power play; Washington was 0-for-2.