POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Caps 4, Devils 1

The Long Division -Although they defeated the Devils in all eight of the meetings between the two teams in 2020-21, the Caps know from experience that New Jersey is a formidable opponent that cannot be taken lightly. The Devils are young, swift, well-coached and skilled, and teams that try to take a night off against them will do so at their peril.

On Thursday night in Newark, the Caps took down the Devils by a 4-1 count in their first road game of the 2021-22 season, improving to 3-0-1 on the season. Three years ago, when they were the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Capitals carried a 2-0-1 record into New Jersey against a much lesser Devils team, and Washington came out on the short end of a 6-0 shellacking that night.
Having started this season with a successful three-game homestand, Washington followed a familiar formula in its Thursday night victory in Newark: score early, add to the lead, and count on stout defense and strong goaltending to maintain it. Facing an undefeated Devils team - a much-improved divisional opponent - in the midst of a five-game season opening homestand, the Caps earned their ninth straight win over New Jersey.

"We didn't win enough battles," lamented Devils coach Lindy Ruff. "With 50/50 pucks, we didn't win enough battles. I thought [Washington's] cpmpete was - for the most part - greater than ours. And you're not going to win games when you're losing that amount of plays along the walls, plays into the middle of the ice.
"That team doesn't need a lot of chances. If you give them a good chance, they'll convert. They're a team that sometimes doesn't create a lot, but when they get them, they finish."
The Devils hadn't trailed on the scoreboard at any point in the early going of the new season until Anthony Mantha scored at 4:14 of the first to give the Caps a lead they would not relinquish. It was the first of four straight Washington goals.
"We weren't there from the start, unfortunately," said Devils defenseman Damon Severson. "We can't play that way and expect to win a game against a veteran team like that who is solid structurally and is one of those teams that plays a smart game and waits for their opportunities. Right from the start, from the puck drop, it didn't seem like we were ready to roll tonight."
"They just played their game. They didn't do anything fancy or crazy out there, they just stuck to their structure and did a good job. They scored on a couple of rush chances that we gave them, and they won their battles. They were smart when they needed to be, and they had guys back when they needed to be."
Of Washington's nine straight wins over New Jersey, six have come by a single goal and two came in overtime. And Thursday's game was closer than the score would indicate in some regards.
"We had our chances, too," says Severson. "It's not like that game was a runaway. I know the score was 4-1, but we did have our looks. I know [Pavel Zacha] had a great chance in the second, I had a great chance in the second. In the third, we had numerous good chances; their goalie did a good job. It's not like we got pumped tonight, we just didn't have our full energy for whatever reason."
Ranking Full Stop -For the third time in as many starts this season, Caps goalie Vitek Vanecek carried a shutout into the third period of Thursday's game. New Jersey's Janne Kuokkanen spoiled the shutout bid late in the Devils' only power play of the game, with 6:42 remaining in the third.
The only lead-changing goal Vanecek has allowed this season came in the waning seconds of a 2-1 overtime loss to the Lightning on Saturday, a game in which Vanecek's stellar work in the crease - particularly in the second period - enabled the Caps to get the game to overtime.
"I'm trying my best to help the team, and I will always do that," says Vanecek. "They help me a lot too, you know, so it's nice if you don't get goals [against] in the first or second period, but if you get them, you have to forget about it and just play and help the team."

Vanecek has been splendid on the young season, allowing only four goals in three starts, and stopping 55 of the 56 shots he has faced at 5-on-5. His .982 save pct. at 5-on-5 is tops in the League, and he has yielded only one rebound attempt at 5-on-5 (or .41 rebound attempts per 60 minutes), an area of his game that needed some improvement from last season when he permitted 2.42 rebound attempts per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 action..
"That's a good question; I haven't been thinking about it," says Vanecek of his work at controlling rebounds. "I'm trying to save as many pucks as possible, because if you give up the rebound sometimes it's not good, because it's a quick shot and you can score from that. So I'm trying to keep everything that I can."
Let The Four Winds Blow - Although his three-game goal streak came to a halt on Thursday night in Newark, Caps captain Alex Ovechkin picked up a pair of assists against the Devils. He is the only Capital to record a point in all four of the team's games this season, and he has four goals and four assists in four games in '21-22.
By The Numbers - John Carlson led the Caps with 25:30 in ice time … Ovechkin, Dmitry Orlov, Garnet Hathaway, Conor Sheary and Evgeny Kuznetsov each had three shots on net to pace the Caps … Ovechkin led Washington with seven shot attempts … Martin Fehervary led the Caps with four hits … Nick Jensen led the Caps with four blocked shots … Lars Eller won 8 of 12 draws (67 percent) and Nic Dowd won six of 10 (60 percent).