Capitals get shutout for 14th home win in row

WASHINGTON-- Braden Holtby made 15 saves to give the Washington Capitals their 14th consecutive home win, 1-0 against the New Jersey Devils at Verizon Center on Thursday.
Rookie forward Jakub Vrana scored for Washington on the power play at 7:21 of the third period with a move and a wrist shot that went past Devils goalie Cory Schneider stick side.
"I appreciate any time up here with Washington, it's the best team in the League right now, any time [I'm] here I appreciate," Vrana said. "To score a goal like this in front of the home crowd, it's an unbelievable feeling."

WATCH: All Devils vs. Capitals highlights
Washington (43-13-7) has not lost in regulation at home since Dec. 17 (15-0-1), and the winning streak is a Capitals record.
Schneider made 18 saves for New Jersey (25-26-12), which lost its fifth consecutive game and was shut out for the fifth time this season. The Devils had a 4:00 power play in the third period.
"You thought going into the third period it might come down to special teams, and unfortunately they got the one and we didn't," Schneider said. "It's never OK to lose or accept losing, but I think it's hard to say there's a lot of things that went wrong tonight. I think we did a lot of good things. We just didn't get rewarded once again."

Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk made his home debut for the Capitals. He played 21:24 (7:23 on the power play), had one shot on goal, two hits and two blocked shots.
"From my standpoint it was just fun to get out there and get one under my belt," Shattenkirk said. "It wasn't really the cleanest game all around, but we battled through it and it seems like that's this team's M.O. is that they just stick with it. Different guys step up at big times and score some goals."

Goal of the game

Vrana used his quick release to put the puck past Schneider for his second goal of the season in his 14th NHL game.

Save of the game

Holtby nearly bobbled the puck on his save on Devils forward Mike Cammalleri in the second period but swept it quickly out of the way to Marcus Johansson.

Highlight of the game

Holtby went post to post to stop Wood point blank on consecutive backhand attempts in the second period.

Unsung moment of the game

After Capitals forward Brett Connolly was called for slashing and unsportsmanlike conduct with 6:33 left in the third period, Washington killed the penalties.

They said it

"I think the first period we were on our heels. We came in here and no one was frazzled, everyone just had a great mindset and we started to chip away at the game in the second. I think our special teams did a good job tonight of obviously getting a big goal, and the penalty kill was phenomenal." -- Capitals defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk
"We've got a strong locker room, a caring locker room. He's fit in very well, and we know that he's going to have to be part of our hockey team this year and next year and a few years down the road hopefully. The same with Kevin coming in here; I think he's transitioned very well. That's a testament to the leadership in our locker room and sort of the culture that we have." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz on how rookie Jakub Vrana is fitting in
"It was incredible. I was telling my D-men after the game, I can't count how many pucks they redirected into the netting behind me. They were detailed. They were blocking shots. They were committed. Against that team, that's the kind of discipline and detail you have to have." -- Devils goalie Cory Schneider

Need to know

The 15 shots were the fewest allowed by the Capitals this season. … Holtby leads the NHL with eight shutouts. … Devils forward Kevin Rooney played 9:48 in his NHL debut.

What's next

Devils: At the Boston Bruins on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, NESN, NHL.TV)
Capitals: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET; CSN-PH, CSN-DC, NHL.TV)