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The Washington Capitals beat the New Jersey Devils 1-0 on Friday night at the Prudential Center.  The win raised the Caps record to 53-15-5 (111 points). The Capitals are right back at it Saturday night when they host Troy Brouwer and the St. Lous Blues at Verizon Center. Puck-drop is 7:00 PM.

The starting lines for the Capitals:

Offensive Lines:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Williams
Johansson-Kuznetsov-Burakovsky
Chimera-Beagle-Wilson
Galiev-Richards-Winnik

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

John Carlson returned to the line-up, after missing 13 games due to injury. This was only the 20th game in which John Carlson and Brooks Orpik played in the same game this season. T.J. Oshie missed his first game of the season due to illness (Flu). Michael Latta, Taylor Chorney and Mike Weber were the healthy scratches. Braden Holtby got the start in net for the Capitals. Scott Wedgewood got the start for the Devils.

QUICK TAKES
The Capitals started well in this one, with a great offensive surge to start the game. The first period would end scoreless with the Caps out-shooting the Devils 10-4. The second period would also go scoreless, with the Caps leading SOG 19-10 after two periods of play. John Carlson would win it in overtime. This was a franchise record-setting road win, the Caps 25th of the season. John Carlson scored his first career goal six years ago tonight. This was Braden Hotlby’s 3rd shutout of the season. Team stats for the game can be found here: Player stats for the game can be found here: Face-off stats for the game can be found here: Game photos can be found here:

The Caps came out firing on all cylinders as the first few shifts kept the puck in the Devils zone for nearly a full four minutes, but the Caps couldn’t finish. Karl Alzner was whistled for the game’s first penalty, high sticking at the 4:00 mark, but the Devils would do little with the man advantage. The Devils would be called for tripping at 8:27 giving the Caps their first man advantage of the night. The power play was a bit disjointed, with a couple of nice scoring chances but none finding the back of the net. The first period would end scoreless. The Caps led in shots on goal 10-4 for the period.

A fairly even 5-on-5 start of the middle frame, with scoring chances for both sides. Justin Williams was called for slashing at 4:07, giving the Devils their second power play of the game, but the Capitals penalty-killing unit did a great job of shutting down the Devils man advantage. The even play continued through a majority of the second period, but the Devils could only muster a total of 8 shots through the first 34 minutes of play. The Capitals had several scrums in front of the Devils goal, but just couldn’t push the puck across the goal line. The second period would end scoreless as well. The Caps led in SOG 19-10.

The Devils had the early edge in 5-on-5 play to start the third period, with several nice scoring chances. Alex Ovechkin was called for tripping at 7:26 of the final frame, but the Capitals would successfully shut down the Devils man advantage. The Devils would continue to hold a slight offensive advantage during even-strength play through most of the third period. The Caps would go on the power play with 2:16 left in regulation, but the Caps were unable to find the back of the net and the game ended 0-0 after regulation.

OVERTIME
John Carlson would win it in overtime, 1-0.

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