Capitals finding groove as woeful Devils visit
The Washington Capitals are starting to find the form that they showed throughout the playoffs last spring en route to winning their first Stanley Cup: better defense, more punch on offense and fewer mistakes.
They will try to keep all of that going on Friday night when the struggling New Jersey Devils visit D.C. Washington (39-21-7, 85 points) has won five in a row, while the Devils (25-33-9, 59) have dropped four straight games.
The Capitals jumped back into first place in the Metropolitan Division with Wednesday's 5-3 victory in Philadelphia. That put the Capitals two points ahead of the New York Islanders, as a few teams have a shot at the top spot in the tightly-bunched division.
Most promising for the Capitals is that they did not have to come from behind. After giving up early first-period goals in the previous five games, Washington raced to a 5-0 lead this time.
"I loved the way we started the game," coach Todd Reirden said afterward. "That's been one of our weaknesses recently, playing from behind and coming back and figuring out ways to win games, but it's difficult to play hockey like that. It wears you down."
Goalie Braden Holtby earned his 25th victory of the season and the 250th of his career. He is the second-fastest goalie to reach the 250-win plateau (409 games). Hall of Famer Ken Dryden (381 games) is the only person to make it there faster.
Alex Ovechkin had a goal and an assist for two points in the game. He needs one more to become the 49th player in NHL history to reach 1,200 points. Ovechkin also has a league-leading 46 goals this season.
The Capitals are going to be facing a New Jersey team that's filled with injury issues. That's one reason for the Devils' four-game skid, as they've been plagued by problems on offense.
New Jersey had eight players listed as injured or sick before its last game, a 2-1 shootout loss against Columbus.
Forwards Kyle Palmieri (lower body) and John Quenneville each returned to practice Thursday, and Palmieri will travel to Washington for Friday's game. Jesper Bratt is week-to-week due to a lower-body injury suffered in the Columbus loss. Center Nico Hischier (upper body) is considered day-to-day but is expected to miss at least two more games.
Goalie Cory Schneider played well in the Columbus loss, finishing with 17 saves before getting beaten twice in the shootout. He said he's proud of the team's effort despite battling through a number of challenges.
"I think lately... we've done a great job of pushing back," Schneider told the media after the Columbus game. "I think overall, it's been a big improvement from the last few weeks. We're grinding. We'd like to win and get rewarded for our efforts. If we continue to play like this, we're going to give ourselves a chance every night."
Friday marks the start of a six-game road trip for New Jersey. The Devils then play at the Rangers on Saturday before heading out West for games with Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Colorado.
--Field Level Media
