Vanecek, Capitals hand Devils first loss; Ovechkin extends point streak

NEWARK, N.J.-- Evgeny Kuznetsov and Daniel Sprong each had a goal and an assist for the Washington Capitals in a 4-1 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Thursday.

"We've got all four lines going, all six defensemen going, the goalies have been playing great," Sprong said. "I think we're playing a team game and we were disappointed with last year's ending (eliminated by the Boston Bruins in five games of the Stanley Cup First Round)."
Anthony Mantha and Dmitry Orlov scored, Alex Ovechkin had two assists to extend his point streak to four games, and Vitek Vanecek made 25 saves for the Capitals (3-0-1) in their first road game.
"Offensively, we've put up some numbers, defensively, we're not allowing too many shots, and our goalies are stopping the ones they need to stop," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said.
Janne Kuokkanen scored, and Scott Wedgewood made 23 saves in his season debut for the Devils (2-1-0). New Jersey is 0-7-2 in its past nine games against Washington (0-6-2 last season).
"We didn't win enough battles, 50-50 pucks," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. "I thought their compete, for the most part, was greater than ours. We're not going to win games losing that amount of plays along the walls, in the middle of the ice. You give them a good chance and they'll convert."
Mantha gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead on a backhand from the slot at 4:14 of the first period. Orlov made it 2-0 on a backhand from the left circle off a long rebound of a shot taken by Ovechkin from the high slot at 9:33.

Sprong extended the lead to 3-0 when he banked the puck off the boards past defenseman Dougie Hamilton at the Devils blue line and scored on a breakaway at 9:56 of the second period.
"The forward for New Jersey came up the wall and I think he kind of missed his pass, but it came to me, so I knew I had to chip it behind Hamilton or [Damon] Severson ... I don't know which one it was," Sprong said. "Then I just had the speed on them, coming in on a breakaway, and it went right in."
Kuznetsov scored on a snap shot at the right post along the goal line to give the Capitals a 4-0 lead at 9:16 of the third period.
Kuokkanen scored a power-play goal on a slap shot from the slot at 13:18 to make it 4-1. Vanecek then made a left-pad save against Jimmy Vesey alone at the right post at 13:43.
"I wasn't thinking about their goal; I was focused for the next play," Vanecek said. "They made a cross and [Vesey] brought it back and I tried to stay with him as much as possible and then I made that save, so it was good."

The Devils were without center Jack Hughes, who was placed on injured reserve Thursday with a dislocated left shoulder.
"I'm not going to really buy any excuses," Ruff said. "We know Jack's out, so it's somebody else's opportunity. We have some guys that played well tonight. We probably had half our group play well and half that didn't play so well. When that happens, you're not going to win. I talked to the group about the game. We're not going to win if half our group shows up, and that has nothing to do with Jack.
"If we don't score because maybe the skill level of Jack is missing, then I'll accept that. But the battles have nothing to do with Jack missing."
NOTES: Ovechkin has scored 15 points (10 goals, five assists) and has five multipoint games in his past 11 against New Jersey. He (four goals, four assists) and Kuznetsov (three goals, five assists) have scored eight points each this season. ... Vanecek has saved all 43 shots he's faced in the first two periods of the three games he has started this season. ... New Jersey's last win against Washington was Feb. 22, 2020, 3-2 here. ... Michael McLeod, who was promoted to second-line center in place of Hughes, had two shots, was 11-for-16 on face-offs (68.8 percent) and was minus-2.