Capitals Rally to Beat Devils 4-3

Photo: CSN Washington

The Washington Capitals beat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 on Saturday night at Verizon Center. The Capitals record improves to 43-10-4 (90 points). The Devils record falls to 29-24-7. The Capitals next host the Arizona Coyotes on Monday night at Verizon Center. Puck-drop is 7:00 PM.

The starting lines for the Capitals:

Offensive Lines:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wiliams
Burakovsky-Backstrom-Oshie
Chimera-Johansson-Wilson
Laich-Richards-Latta

Defensive Pairs:
Schmidt-Carlson
Alzner-Niskanen
Orpik-Orlov

Stanislav Galiev and Taylor Chorney were the healthy scratches for this game. Braden Holtby got the start in net for the Capitals. Cory Schneider started for the Devils. Schneider also started and played in all of last nights game for the Devils. The game’s goalie matchup for tonight’s game provided by @washcaps:

QUICK TAKES
Another slow start for the Caps, allowing six shots on goal in the first 2:30 of the game. Braden Holtby was sharp early, but would cool-off mid-way through the opening frame, yielding two goals in the period. The Capitals power play continues to struggle. Brooks Orpik had a good game, with a goal and an assist – the goal being the game-winner in the third period, and his first two-point game with a goal since Nov. 2008. The Capitals out-shot the Devils 42-24 for the game. Team stats for the game can be found here: Player stats for the game can be found here: Tomorrow is a day off for Washington. The Capitals will hold a morning skate on Monday at 10:15 a.m. at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Va.

Photo: @MsReneeHouse

The Capitals started slow once again, allowing six shots-on-goal by the Devils in the first 2:30 of the game. The Caps started to turn the momentum in their favor around the 5:00 minute mark of the opening frame, generating a number of scoring chances, but none of which found the back of the net. Brooks Laich was whistled for interference at 5:19 of the first period, giving the Devils the first power play of the game. The Caps shut-out the Devils power play, allowing no shots on goal. The Capitals would receive their first man-advantage at 11:00 when the Devil’s Jacob Josefson was called for interference on Mike Richards. The Capitals first unit was able to generate a nice tic-tac-toe pass sequence, but could not finish, as the Caps once again came up dry on the power play. The Devils would strike first on a wrap-around feed to Travis Zajac at 15:28 of the opening frame.

Alex Ovechkin would tie it up at 17:02 on a nifty feed from Dmitry Orlov.

The Devils would re-gain the lead at 19:32 on a ricochet-shot off of Braden Holtby by the Devils Kyle Palmeiri from below the goal line.

The period would end with the Devils leading 2-1. The Devils out-shot the Caps 14-8 in the first period.

A rather pedestrian opening five minutes to the second period. The Capitals would go on their second power play of the game as a result of a high-sticking call on the Devils Seth Helgeson at 5:22 of the middle frame. Again, another fruitless man-advantage for the Capitals with only two shots on goal, neither finding the back of the net. Evgeny Kuznetsov would tie the game on a rebound wrister at 9:16 of the middle frame.

The second period would end with the game tied 2-2. The Capitals led in shots-on-goal 20-18 after two periods of play. Brooks Orpik, who led the team in ice time in the first period, was back to making crunching hits in the second period.

Orpik crunch in 2nd period #caps pic.twitter.com/ecbD7RlaF4

— George Foussekis (@CanucksFin56) February 21, 2016

New Jersey was called for too many men on the ice at 3:24 of the final frame, giving the Caps their third power play of the game. The first unit was very ineffective in generating chances. The second unit was no better, as the Caps were unable to generate a single shot on goal. Otherwise, with the exception of a post shot by each side, the first ten minutes of the final period were rather calm. The Devils would re-take the lead at 11:04 on a shot by the Devils Reid Boucher.