Caps Hold Off Devils, 5-4

Playing for the third time in less than 72 hours and doing so for the second time in as many weeks, the Caps showed the effects of the condensed schedule in their Sunday matinee match against the Devils in New Jersey. Washington wasn't at its best against an upstart New Jersey team that was playing its second game in five days, but the Caps found a way to prevail, holding off the Devils, 5-4.

The Capitals were opportunistic; they scored five times on just 19 shots. But they got the two points on the strength of Ilya Samsonov's 35-save performance in the Washington nets.
"He had some really big saves," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "I thought his first period was really good. He gave us a chance to win a hockey game tonight.
"We did enough offensively to win, but you could tell that we were feeling the effects of three games in three and a half days, so credit to the guys for battling through. But in a game like that, if your goaltender can be the best player - and he was - then he will give you a chance. I thought that there were some incredible saves that he made along the way."

Washington's first period was forgettable; New Jersey played and looked faster in the first 20 while the Caps were frequently a step slow and too often chasing. The Devils took an early lead, and the Caps were able to respond soon after, but ultimately Washington was fortunate to get out of the first period all even, largely due to Samsonov's play.
The Devils struck first in transition, interrupting a Washington breakout and then quickly regrouping in the neutral zone. Travis Zajac blunted the Caps' exit effort, dropping the puck back for Ryan Murray at the New Jersey line. Murray sent Nick Merkley into Washington ice down the right-wing wall, and Merkley threw a lateral feed for Zajac, whose one-timer beat Samsonov for a 1-0 Devils advantage at 3:17 of the first.
Six minutes later, the Caps squared the score. From his own end of the ice, Caps defenseman Brenden Dillon attempted to feed Alex Ovechkin near the New Jersey line. The puck clicked off the captain's stick and bounded of the right half-wall, where T.J. Oshie was the first to get to it, collecting it in the lower portion of the right circle. Oshie cut sharply to the cage from there, tucking a backhander under the crossbar on the short side just before getting to the blue point. Oshie's 10th of the season made it a 1-1 game at 9:16.
Samsonov stopped 16 of 17 shots in the first when the Capitals were on the short end of a 17-5 disparity in shots on net.
Washington was better in the front half of the second period, scoring twice before the midpoint of the middle frame to open up a two-goal lead. First, Conor Sheary gave the Caps a lead off a fortuitous bounce seconds after a face-off win in New Jersey ice.

Nicklas Backstrom won the left dot draw, and after an exchange on the blueline, Dmitry Orlov found Conor Sheary, whose one-timer from the right circle clicked off Devils defender Damon Severson and went in at 3:21 to put Washington on top, 2-1.
Less than five minutes later, the Caps extended their lead just 11 seconds into their first power play opportunity of the afternoon. After Oshie won a right dot draw and the Caps worked the puck to Backstrom at the half wall, he fired on net. Mackenzie Blackwood made the stop, but Ovechkin was there to bury the rebound at the back door, making it a 3-1 game at 8:09 of the second.
New Jersey carried the play in the back half of the second period, outshooting the Caps 9-1 after the Ovechkin goal and holding Washington without a shot on net for more than 10 minutes. The Devils drew to within a goal during a stretch of 4-on-4 play late in the stanza, making it 3-2 on a Yegor Sharangovich goal at 17:42.
Samsonov made one of his better stops of the contest soon after, denying Severson's back door bid to keep the Caps up by a goal entering the final frame.
Early in the third, the Devils had a chance to draw even when Lars Eller was sent to the box, Washington's third straight minor penalty in less than eight and a half minutes of playing time. Instead, the Caps extended their lead with a shorthanded strike.
Garnet Hathaway used the boards to chip a puck off the wall and around Severson at the Washington line, then won a foot race to the disc with the Devils defenseman. Hathaway then threaded a feed to the front for Carl Hagelin, who buried it for a 4-2 Caps lead at 2:41.
Less than three minutes later, the Caps' Russian troika combined to make it 5-2, Dmitry Orlov breaking it out and feeding Ovechkin, and the captain patiently waiting to feed Evgeny Kuznetsov for the finish in front at 5:31.
But the Devils didn't go away, closing the gap on a Jesper Bratt goal at 10:15 and closing to within one on Zajac's second of the game at 15:53, a virtual carbon copy of his first goal. Samsomov had to make only six saves in the third, and only one of those came after the second Zajac goal. The Caps were effective at denying time and space as New Jersey vied for a late equalizer.

"We did so many good things in the game," says Devils coach Lindy Ruff. "We probably had our best power plays of the year. We had a power play that was in the zone for the full two minutes. We hit the crossbar, we missed great opportunities.
"[Saturday's] practice was focused on offensive intensity, trying to create extra opportunities. I would say tonight we probably created the most opportunities we've had all year, and at the end of the night we didn't win a game. I think you start with your foundation; our foundation was good. We made a few mistakes, yes. But there was a lot of good stuff inside that game."
Sunday's win was Washington's eighth in as many games over New Jersey this season, all in a span of 43 days. It's the first time in franchise history the Caps have earned eight wins over the same foe in the same regular season.