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Devils Lose Second Straight, Downed by Caps on Retro Night

The Washington Capitals currently have the best record in the entire NHL – leading the tough Metropolitan Division. That fact would stay the same going into the All-Star break as they defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-2 tonight at the Prudential Center.

The Devils played well for most of the game, applying pressure in the offensive zone for good portions. In fact, at one point in the first period Washington went seven minutes without a shot attempt. But the Capitals are the kind of team that only needs a small opportunity to get you. As MSG analyst Ken Daneyko put it: “you give them an inch and they take a mile.” And that is what they did to the Devils tonight.

It was Throwback Thursday at The Rock as the Devils wore their original red and green colors for the game. John MacLean of the MSG broadcast team told a cool story that the reason Lou Lamoriello wanted to change the colors from green to black was because it would make the team look “bigger and tougher.” Time proved Lou right as the Devils went on to their most success in the red and black instead of the red and green.

New Jersey might have been throwing it back in the uniform department, but they were debuting a new player on the ice. Plano, Texas native Stefan Noesen was picked up on waivers from Anaheim on Wednesday. He became the second player from that Texas town to play for New Jersey this season (Blake Coleman is the other one). It was mentioned in the pregame show by Noesen that his great-grandfather was Canadian and his dad was originally from Chicago – moving to Texas to play college basketball. He wore number 23 for the Devils.

Other roster moves saw the Devils put Beau Bennett on injured reserve (which necessitated going out and getting Noesen) as well as scratching Luke Gazdic, Seth Helgeson and Sergey Kalinin. Devante Smith-Pelly drew back into the lineup. Washington was missing John Carlson (who is out with a lower body injury) and TJ Oshie (who was missing for personal matters). Jay Beagle had been sick but was back in for the Caps.

The goaltending matchup saw Braden Holtby make 27 saves on 29 Devils shots. The Devils initially went back to Keith Kinkaid, who coach John Hynes felt earned the coaching staff going back to him for tonight. Unfortunately for him, he would not last the whole game. He made 13 saves on 17 Washington shots but those four goals cost him the rest of the game. Cory Schneider, who was a little upset at not being named the initial starter, came in in relief with 9:41 to go in the second period. He stopped all 18 shots he faced. He was brilliant, making the big saves to keep the Devils in the game and give them a chance to win this game. This was the first time since November 6 and 7, 2014 that the Devils had pulled their starting goalies in back to back games.

The Capitals got on the board first at 6:14 of the first when Kyle Quincey tried to clear the Devils zone and turned it directly over to Alex Ovechkin, who scored on a backhand shot, unassisted. It was 1-0 Caps.

The Capitals would go up 2-0 when Kyle Palmieri took a high sticking penalty to put them on the power play. Remember that line about giving an inch and taking a mile? Andre Burakovsky converted to double up Washington’s lead. The Caps finished the night 2-for-4 on the power play. New Jersey was 1-for-3. Hynes used his coach’s challenge to see if Washington was offside on the goal. It would have been by a toe and the linesmen, on review, could not see enough to overturn the goal, so it was 2-0.

Washington is, statistically, the best defensive team in the NHL and are very hard to come back against. The Devils had a steep hill to climb. They would begin chipping away early in the second period when, at 3:19, Jacob Josefson gave to Pavel Zacha out of the corner. Zacha made a nice pass across to Noesen, who buried it glove side by Holtby. It was Noesen’s third of the season and first as a Devil. In a neat little bit of trivia, it was the second straight time that a Devil wearing the number 23 scored in his first game played with the team (Bobby Farnham did it last season). It was now 2-1 Washington as the Devils had cut the lead in half.

But then the floodgates opened. First, at 8:29, Lars Eller scored from Dmitry Orlov and Burakovsky. Then, at 10:19, after Karl Stollery had gone off for hooking, putting the Caps on the power play, Evgeny Kuznetsov scored from Orlov and Ovechkin to suddenly make it 4-1 Capitals. To add insult to injury, New Jersey went right back on the power play when Steven Santini was called for hooking as well.

The Devils would make things interesting when they went on the power play at 16:38 (Daniel Winnik was called for roughing Vern Fiddler) and would capitalize. Pavel Zacha would drive behind the net, giving the puck up to PA Parenteau at the point. He slid it back to the other point to Michael Cammalleri who fired a shot that Adam Henrique tipped behind Holtby to make it 4-2. Damon Severson then immediately hit the post on the next play as the Devils really poured on the pressure.

A crazy moment happened mid-third period when Brooks Orpik stood up Taylor Hall at the Caps’ blue line with a clean hit. Kyle Palmieri took exception to it, not knowing if it was dirty or not. He jumped Orpik and would end up with five minutes for fighting, the instigator penalty and a misconduct. Orpik got five for fighting while Tom Wilson got a game misconduct.

Cory and Stollery made a nice play late to keep the Devils in the game when Schneider made a spectacular save going across the crease and Stollery pushed the puck under Cory’s pad. Toronto took a look at the goal and deemed that it had not gone over the line. The game stayed 4-2.

Schneider was pulled about the 2:50 mark of the third period, but to no avail. Kuznetzov added an empty netter to make the final score 5-2.

Next up for the Devils, the All-Star break, as only Taylor Hall will be joining the festivities in Los Angeles. After that, they regroup Monday afternoon and head off to Detroit for their second to last game at the Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday. The Red Wings are in a similar place as the Devils are right now, so Tuesday will be a huge two points up for grabs.

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Capitals Rout Devils in New Year’s Eve Matinee

Following their shootout victory on Thursday in DC, the Devils would look to get some momentum going with a sweep of a home-and-home series against the Caps. They met for a 1 PM tilt on New Year’s Eve at Prudential Center and the results were not exactly what New Jersey wanted.

Really, the game could be summed up in the power play efficiency, or lack of it, for the Devils. The Capitals beat a steady path to the penalty box all afternoon and the Devils could not convert on one power play they were given. They went 0-for-9 on the power play for the first time since October 7, 2006 (a season opening loss against the Dallas Stars) and it showed. They could not really get anything going, they did have good looks early, but were just unable to finish.

The dad’s trip continued as the player’s fathers were in attendance for the game, as they were in Washington on Thursday. They saw a team without Taylor Hall, who is still day-to-day (he did not make the trip down to Washington) and Vernon Fiddler – who is out three to four weeks with a lower body injury.

In net, the Devils decided to go back to Keith Kinkaid, who played a great game against the Caps on Thursday. He was not as sharp today, making just 20 saves on 26 Capitals shots. John MacLean, on the MSG pregame show, did stress that Cory Schneider is still the team’s number one, coach John Hynes just had to go with the hot hand going in. Washington countered with their backup Philipp Grubauer. He made 21 saves on just 23 Devils shots. Grubauer had great numbers coming into the game and they stayed that way or got better following his performance this afternoon.

The Devils would look to gain some ground in the standings on a Capitals team that currently stands in the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Something to build on was that the Caps swept last year’s season series. That will not be possible this year, as New Jersey already has a victory under their belts against the perennial conference powerhouses. The Devils were also trying to put together back-to-back wins for the first time since early December.

Washington’s Brett Connolly got the scoring off to a start when he notched his fourth from Andre Burakovsky and Brooks Orpik. Just 2:36 into the game, it was 1-0 Capitals.

Then a scary moment as Washington’s Tom Wilson finished his check while the Devils’ John Moore had his back turned. Moore’s head banged off of the glass and he went down in a heap at the 16:50 mark of the first. He was stretchered out but was responsive to the attending doctors, according to MSG’s Deb Placey.

The Devils did respond to what could be defined as a dirty hit when Devante Smith-Pelly and Connolly had a brief scrap. DSP ended up drawing a roughing minor while Connolly took a double minor for roughing, putting the Devils on their first power play of the afternoon.

But Washington would strike with 19:01 gone by in the first period, doubling their lead. The Devils again gave up a goal with two minutes or less in a period. Jay Beagle got this one, tipping a quick wrister from Orpik from the point by Kinkaid. Daniel Winnik had the secondary assist on that goal. The Devils coaching staff briefly thought about challenging for a high stick, but the replay showed it was a good goal, as confirmed by Toronto.

Moments later, the Caps’ Lars Eller was called for goalie interference, meaning the Devils would begin the second period with a power play on a fresh sheet of ice.

The Caps killed that off, but would go down a man again at the 5:01 mark when Justin Williams was called for tripping. That would kick off a strange sequence of events that would actually lead to the Devils’ first goal of the day. Six seconds after that penalty was called, Travis Zajac was nabbed for interference in a questionable, at best, call. It was now 4-on-4. Then, at 5:54 gone by, Dmitry Orlov was also whistled for interference, giving the Devils a 4-on-3 advantage. Four seconds after that, PA Parenteau slashed John Carlson’s stick, breaking it and going off for two minutes. It was now 3-on-3. During the 3-on-3, Kyle Palmieri walked right in on a partial breakaway and beat Grubauer, making the score 2-1. The goal was technically at even strength, and with expiring penalties, Washington would have two brief power plays on that whole sequence. Although they would not score on either and, in fact, went 0-for-3 on the day with the extra man.

The Devils thought maybe they had taken the momentum back with Palmieri’s goal, but Washington answered right back. First, TJ Oshie scored at the 11:05 mark, from Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin. That made it 3-1, a good omen for the Caps, since they are 18-0 this season when scoring at least three goals.

But 33 seconds after the Oshie goal, Ovechkin found the back of the net to make it 3-1. He got assists from Matt Niskanen and Oshie. That goal was Ovechkin’s 17th of the season which he scored as the puck bounced off of the end boards and came right to him, allowing him to bury it. From there the Caps began to roll. Justin Williams added one at the 16:34 mark from Niskanen and Dmitry Orlov to make it 4-1. Niskanen took a shot that was tipped in by Williams in front of Kinkaid.

From there, the Devils tried to get things under control starting when Luke Gazdic and Wilson went at it in a spirited fight. Wilson knew he would have to answer for the hit on Moore and he did. That bout came at 19:23 of the second period.

For the Devils, this was the 13th time in the first 37 games of the season that their opponent had scored three or more unanswered against them. They would break that up when Beau Bennett scored at the 14:52 mark of the third period. The goal came when Ben Lovejoy fired a one-timer from the point and it was tipped in by Bennett. Jon Merrill had his first assist of the year on that goal, as he picked up the secondary. That made it 5-2.

But as was the story of the afternoon, the Capitals answered right back. At 15:27, Marcus Johansson made it 6-2 when he scored from Williams and Evgeny Kuznetsov. It was the first time all season that New Jersey has let in six in one game.

The Caps would finish the game on the power play when Parenteau took another slashing call. That was added to the five for fighting that he and Winnik took as they had a little scrap with about 2:30 left in the game.

When the final horn sounded, Washington had come away with the 6-2 win. The Devils will want to shake this one off as soon as possible because next up, the Boston Bruins come to town on Monday. The Devils had played relatively well at the Rock, this stinker aside, and they will want to get back on track with a better outing against Boston on January 2.