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Devils Fall to Caps in 2017-18 Season Finale

Patrick Maroon had a goal and two assists against the Capitals on Saturday. He has factored into every Devils’ goal for the final two games of the year. Photo: Adam Hunger/Getty Images

The Devils finished up the 2017-18 season with a 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena. This puts a bow on what has been a fantastic (if not roller coaster-like) regular season and sets the stage for the Stanley Cup Playoffs: 2018 edition.

New Jersey was not fooling around with taking any chances tonight. They rested Taylor Hall, Sami Vatanen, Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri in order to keep them healthy for the postseason. Keith Kinkaid did not dress, as Eddie Lack was called up from Binghamton to back up Cory Schneider – making his first start since March 20 at San Jose – and Marcus Johansson is still being held out. Deb Placey of MSG+ alluded to the fact that it might not be until further into the playoffs (should the Devils get there) that he will play.

Because of this, some guys were playing in what would be essentially an audition for the playoffs. Jimmy Hayes, Drew Stafford, Jesper Bratt and Damon Severson, who have all been healthy scratches lately, were all back in the lineup. How they played tonight will determine how the coaching staff form their lineup for the playoffs.

The Devils would likely have a dance partner for the first round by the end of the night. The only thing they knew was that they could not face the Columbus Blue Jackets. With the outcome of their game versus Washington, the Devils knew that they would be crossing over to the Atlantic Division as the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. They finished with exactly the same amount of points and ROWs as Columbus, but the Jackets took the season series against New Jersey, which is the next tiebreaker.

Whether it was Boston or Tampa Bay (whomever won the Atlantic would be their opponent), they would not know tonight. Boston won in regulation while the Hurricanes defeated the Lightning in overtime. The Bruins have a makeup game on home ice tomorrow against the Panthers that will decide the winner of the Atlantic. If the Bruins win that game in any fashion (regulation, OT or shootout), the Devils will face the Bruins. Should Boston lose, the Devils get the Lightning in the first round. The Bruins and the Cats are making up a game that was snowed out at TD Garden back in January.

Whew!

Between the pipes, Cory Schneider went for the Devils. As stated, Eddie Lack was called up from the AHL to dress as his backup. Schneider, of course, has not won a game in the 2018 calendar year, and was looking to get in some good work before the playoffs began, as the Devils need him to be in good shape for the playoffs. He stopped 21 of 26 Caps’ shots. He also weathered a storm of shots by Alex Ovechkin later in the game. More on why that was later.

For the Capitals, Braden Holtby was in action. He is having a similar season to Cory in that the former Vezina Trophy winner has not been playing up to his own high standards. He made 23 saves on 26 Devils shots.

Ovechkin was looking to reach 50 goals this year. He would need a hat trick to reach that goal but it was certainly within reach for him. He kicked off the game’s scoring with his 48th goal of the year when he scored from his usual spot. Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson had the assists on that goal just 2:21 in to make it 1-0 Caps.

The Devils would respond a few minutes later at the 8:10 mark of the first when Nico Hischier scored his 20th of the year from Patrick Maroon and Severson. Severson came in with a well-timed pinch to move the puck to Maroon behind the Washington net. Maroon quickly passed to Nico, who was cruising into the slot. He fired and beat Holtby to the stick side. The game was tied up at one.

According to a tweet by the guys at the great Devils Insiders podcast, with that goal, Hischier reached one of his Schedule A bonuses for the year and would recoup $212,500. Congratulations to Nico on that accomplishment.

Washington would regain the lead with just seconds to go in the first period when Nicklas Backstrom scored from Brett Connolly and John Carlson at 19:32 to make it 2-1 Caps going into the first break.

Michal Kempny scored at the 3:44 mark of the second period to give the Capitals at two goal lead. He got assists from Shane Gersich and Chandler Stephenson.

The Devils would cut it to 3-2 with a little under a minute to go in the second. Miles Wood scored his 19th from Maroon and Pavel Zacha as that line continued their hot streak. Maroon won a puck battle behind the Washington net, trying to pass on his forehand to Wood on the doorstep. That pass was blocked by the Washington defender and bounced back to Maroon’s stick. He skated to the other side of the net and came out from around it, passing on his backhand to Wood in front. Wood shoveled the pass by Holtby on his glove side.

Maroon had now assisted on all of the Devils goals in the last two games. But he was not done. He would get one himself just 2:04 into the third (assists to Zacha and Wood) to tie things up at three. Wood batted down a clearing attempt by the Caps at their blue line. He knocked it right to Zacha, who found Maroon cutting towards the net from the far faceoff circle. He shot and beat Holtby glove side to make it 3-3.

Unfortunately, that was it for the Devils’ offense this game. But it is a good time for the Wood-Maroon-Zacha combination to get hot and we are anxious to see what they can do in the playoffs.

The rest of the scoring for third period saw Ovechkin get one closer to 50 with his 49th unassisted at 5:11. That is where he would end. The game broke down late into a bizzare attempt by the Caps to get Ovechkin the puck at all costs as he tried to get to that magic mark.

Andre Burakovsky would add a fifth goal for Washington at 11:50 from Kempny and Backstrom and that was it for the season.

On the power play for the night, the Devils were 0-for-1 with two shots on goal while the Caps were 0-for-2 with two shots on goal. The Devils also had two shorthanded shots on goal.

Overall, shots were even at 26, the Devils won only 41-percent of the game’s faceoffs, the Capitals out hit the Devils 15-10 and the Caps also had more blocks at 13-11. Individually, Severson led the team in ice time with 21:19 (including 55 seconds on the power play) while Brian Gibbons led the forwards with 19:03 (2:48 on the PK – he had a good game killing penalties). Shots on goal was led by Wood with five. Maroon led in hits with three. Andy Greene led in blocks with three and Brian Boyle and Mirco Mueller led in takeaways with two each.

Next up: the playoffs. The Devils will find out who they will be facing tomorrow following the conclusion of the Boston Bruins-Florida Panthers contest. So far in the East, Washington will take on Columbus, Pittsburgh will face Philadelphia and the Maple Leafs will face the loser of the Atlantic Division – the Devils will get the winner. We will be with you through the playoffs whenever they do start for New Jersey.

Note: if you enjoyed this post, please follow us on Twitter @LGDevilsNet, email us at LetsGoDevilsNet@gmail.com or simply leave a comment below. Thanks!

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Devils Prevail in OT, Finally Beat Washington

The Devils wanted to give the Washington Capitals “a game.” The team felt that they had not played the Caps well at all in their twin 5-2 losses in two games against them this season and for the most part, they were right. Tonight, the Devils conceded a point to the Metropolitan Division leaders, but took the full two by defeating the Capitals 4-3 in overtime. Washington is definitely one of the elite teams in the NHL and the Devils wanted to show that they could skate with them.

The Capitals had had some travel problems getting into Newark. They had just come off of their bye week and could not get into New Jersey in time for a practice yesterday, due to weather problems in DC. They just got in a morning skate earlier today.

Some roster moves for the Devils first, as the lineup remained largely the same as the one that defeated the Islanders Tuesday night in Brooklyn. Some good news for the Devils on the injury front as Mirco Mueller is back and was sent to Binghamton of the AHL on a “conditioning assignment.” Blake Coleman and Jimmy Hayes were the healthy scratches along with Steven Santini, who had been optioned to Binghamton to make room for backup goalie Ken Appleby. But Cory Schneider was back – although he did not play tonight – and, thus, so was Santini.

Cory did not start tonight, not because he was still sick, he is better, but because he had lost five pounds in one-and-a-half days and has not skated. So Keith Kinkaid made a back-to-back start coming off of his win in New York Tuesday. It was a relatively light night for him as he made 16 saves on just 19 shots total against. Going against him was Braden Holtby, one of the elite goaltenders in the NHL right now to be sure. He made 28 saves on 32 shots against. Kinkaid was the last Devils goalie to defeat Washington with a 2-1 shootout win last season.

One of the main themes of the night was the special teams. In their two other games against the Devils this season, the Caps were 4-for-7 on the power play total. Tonight the Devils certainly gave the Capitals the chances, but limited them to 0-for-5 on the night with just five shots. The Devils were 0-for-3 with three shots on goal. It was dicey, but the penalty killing unit really came through for New Jersey.

The Devils took the early lead 8:01 into the first period when alley-ooped a pass to Drew Stafford behind the Washington defense. Stafford skated in on Holtby, went backhand and beat him with Devante Smith-Pelly backchecking hard all over him. Just like that, the Devils had the 1-0 lead.

However, it would only take about four minutes and nine seconds for the Caps to respond. Brett Connolly scored at 12:10 from TJ Oshie and Brooks Orpik to tie the game up.

The next goal came within a milestone game. Andy Greene was playing in his 750th NHL game (and coming off of his first NHL fight in his 749th game) and would put the Devils up by one just 3:33 into the second period. It came when Taylor Hall gained the Capitals’ zone before stopping and putting the puck on Nico Hischier’s stick in front of the Caps’ net. Hischier had the presence of mind to simply tap it over to Greene, cutting in back door and Greene put it between Holtby’s left arm and the goal post to make it 2-1 Devils.

New Jersey got a lift when Brian Boyle came to the aid of Brian Gibbons. Gibbons had absorbed a hard hit from Capitals’ tough guy Tom Wilson. Boyle dropped the gloves with Wilson and the two had a spirited bout. Unfortunately, Boyle took the instigator penalty along with five for fighting plus a ten minute misconduct. The Devils would be killing off the instigator penalty and be without the services of Boyle for ten minutes. Wilson only got a five minute major for fighting.

The Devils would kill that penalty off and tack on an insurance goal at the 10:55 mark of the second when Miles Wood used his speed to create a goal. It happened when Hischier won a defensive zone draw back to Sami Vatanen. Vatanen looped the puck up ice to Wood, who snuck in behind the Washington defense on a breakaway. His shot trickled through Holtby’s five hole to put the Devils up 3-1.

The Washington comeback began quickly, however. Dmitry Orlov scored less than a minute after the Wood goal. He got assists from Alex Chiasson and Jay Beagle. That would make it 3-2, New Jersey.

Then the other shoe would drop. It would take until the 16:12 mark of the third period, but Connolly scored his second of the game from Evgeny Kuznetsov and Wilson to tie things up at three. The Capitals had spent a lot of offensive time in the Devils’ zone at that point and the ice certainly looked tilted in their favor.

Time would expire in regulation and, although the Devils had gained at least a point against Washington for the first time this year, there was still a bit of a let down throughout the Prudential Center. But all it would take was 34 seconds of overtime to end things.

Vatanen chipped the puck free to Hall, who slipped past Kuznetsov and was off to the races. He beat Holtby glove side on the breakaway and the Devils had gotten the 4-3 win. Hall notched his team-leading 17th goal of the year on that play and the Devils got two points against the Capitals for the first time this year. Hall was also named the game’s first star, Connolly the second and Wood the third.

Stat-wise, Greene led in time on ice with 23:39 while Hall and Wood tied for the shots lead with four each. Ben Lovejoy led in hits with six and in blocks with three. The Devils won 58-percent of the game’s faceoffs.

So the Devils pick up a point on the Caps, but Washington still leads the Metro Division by four points with 60, but the Devils closed the gap a little bit by getting points 55 and 56.

Next up, the Devils take on the Flyers in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon. This will be the second meeting between the Turnpike rivals this month. The Flyers have been coming on strong in the Metro. How will the Devils fare in this 1 PM matinee? We will find out Saturday afternoon.