Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals beat the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Friday night at The Prudential Center in Newark. The win raised the Capitals record to 3-1-1 for the season. The Capitals next make a short hop south to Philadelphia to face the Flyers Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center. Puck drop is 7:00PM. 

Cory Schneider (3-0-0, 2.00 GAA, .948 save pct) got the start in goal for the Devils. Braden Holtby (2-1-0, 2.62, .925) got the start in goal for the Capitals.

#Caps lines tonight in Newark: 65-19-77, 8-92-13, 10-20-43, 25-83-39. Defense: 44-74, 9-2, 29-55. Holtby vs Schneider.

— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) October 13, 2017

Tom Wilson made his regular season debut after serving a 4-game suspension for a hit he made in the last preseason game in St. Louis. Wilson was slotted on the third line and Alex Chiasson moved down to the 4th line. Nathan Walker and Taylor Chorney were the healthy scratches.

FIRST PERIOD
The teams would each we awarded a power play in the first half of the period with no damages done. T.J. Oshie would notch the game’s first tally at 14:49 of the opening frame. The goal was setup by a nice steal by Nicklas Backstrom at center ice.

 Radio call from John Walton:

The period would end with the Capitals leading 1-0. Shots on goal were even a 8-8 for the opening frame.New Jersey won the faceoff battle for the first period 65-35%.

SECOND PERIOD
The Capitals would stretch the lead to 2-0 on a power play goal by Alex Ovechkin at the 8:01 mark of the middle frame. This was Ovechkin’s 9th goal of the season.

 Radio call from John Walton:

The Devils would cut the lead in half with a power play goal by Taylor Hall at 16:28 of the middle frame. The goal was setup with nice side-to-side passing.

However the Capitals would re-establish the two-goal margin on a goal by Jakub Vrana at the 19:00 mark of the middle frame. Vrana deflected a shot by Devante Smith-Pelly for the Caps third tally.

 John Walton’s call:

The period would end with the Capitals holding on to the 3-1 lead. Matt Niskanen would leave the game in the middle of the period with a hand injury and not return for the remainder of the game.

THIRD PERIOD
The Devils would quickly cut the lead to one with a goal by Kyle Palmieri just 53 seconds into the final frame, making it 3-2.

T.J. Oshie would once again restore the two-goal lead with another power play goal at 5:26 of the third period, making it 4-2 Caps.

 John Walton’s call:

Nicklas Backstrom would get in on the action with his second goal of the season, giving the Capitals a 5-2 lead at the 7:02 mark of the final frame.

 John Walton’s call:

Andre Burakovsky would come to the aid of Dmitry Orlov, who was ridden into the boards in the middle of the period. Burakovsky would ultimately drop the gloves for a rare boxing match with Blake Coleman.

Tom Wilson would drop the gloves late in the period, going after Blake Coleman, who fought with Burakovsky.

Wilson would join Bruakovsky in the box following his bout with Coleman.

The Capitals would hold on for the 5-2 win. John Walton put’s New Jersey to bed:

NHL box score can be found here.

By Jon Sorensen

SCENES FROM THE PRUDENTIAL CENTER

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