Three times the Devils took a one-goal lead, the first time coming
less than five minutes into the contest when Kyle Palmieri skated the puck in
deep and around the Caps net. He tried
to wrap the puck around the post to goalie Braden Holtby’s right, but the puck
squirted out into the low slot where Travis Zajac banged it in.
The Caps tied it late in the period when the Devils failed
to clear the puck out of their own end. Joseph
Blandisi tried to lift the puck off the glass and over Dmitry Orlov, but Orlov
gloved the puck down, then sent a pass to Alex Ovechkin in the left wing
circle. Ovechkin pulled the puck to a
shooting position, when wristed a shot through the legs of goalie Cory
Schneider at the 17:02 mark.
The Devils broke the tie before the teams went to the first
intermission when Palmieri gathered up a loose puck in the right wing faceoff
circle, skated to the goal line, then snapped a shot that hit Holtby in the
name plate on the back of his jersey and ricocheted in to make it 2-1 with just
17.3 seconds left in the period.
The teams skated through the first nine minutes of the
second period with the red lights remaining dark, but the Caps tied things up
in the tenth minute. Michael Latta
scooped up a loose puck in the right wing circle and looped around the New
Jersey net. For an instant it looked as
if he might try a back pass in the fashion of Evgeny Kuznetsov, but he
continued on his way. When he came out
the other side he threw the puck at the crease, but it hit a skate in front and
slid out to the right wing faceoff circle.
Kuznetsov was waiting, and he snapped a shot high over Schneider’s left
shoulder to make it 2-2 at the 9:16 mark.
That would be the way the teams went to the second
intermission, but New Jersey took the lead back mid-way into the final
period. Reid Boucher walked the puck out
from the left wing wall and fired a shot from just above the faceoff circles that
deflected off Justin Williams’ stick and sailed past Holtby to make it 3-2 at
11:04.
Less than three minutes later, the game was tied one last
time. Brooks Orpik circled with the puck
at the top of the offensive zone and slid it off to Orlov in the left wing
circle. Orlov fired a shot that was
muffled in front. T.J. Oshie out-fought
Jon Merrill for the puck in the low slot, and from his knees he backhanded the
puck twice, the second whack taking an interesting path to the net. The puck struck the left skate of defenseman Seth
Helgeson, hit Schneider on the way through, then hit the skate of Merrill
before dribbling across the goal line to make it 3-3 at the 13:55 mark.
Then the game took one final unexpected turn. Kuznetsov took a pass from Ovechkin and set
up below the Devils’ goal line. As he
was setting up at the edge of the trapezoid to the right and behind Schnedier,
Williams skated through the left wing faceoff circle, pulling a defender with
him. This left the circle vacant, and
Brooks Orpik stepped up. Kuznetsov slid
him a no-look pass, and Orpik one-timed the puck past Schneider for what would
be the game-winning goal in the Caps 4-3 win.
Other stuff…
-- Brooks Orpik played 797 regular season games with
Pittsburgh Penguins and the Caps without having recorded a game-winning
goal. In Game 798, he got his
first. His only other career
game-winning goal came in overtime of Game 6 of the 2013 Eastern Conference
Quarterfinal playoff series against the New York Islanders. It was the series-clinching goal in that
series.
-- Alex Ovechkin’s goal was his 513th of his
career, tying Jeremy Roenick for 37th place on the all-time
list. It was his tenth goal in his last
nine games, his 17th in 17 games, and his 24th in 26
games.
-- Ovechkin also recorded an assist, breaking a nine-game
streak without one. He has two assists
in his last 25 games.
-- Orpik also had an assist.
It made for his first two point game of the season, his first since he
had a pair of assists in a 5-4 overtime win in San Jose against the Sharks on
February 11th last season. It
was his first two-point game at Verizon Center since Game 4 of last season,
also against the Devils.
-- T.J. Oshie celebrated his 500th career NHL
game with a goal that broke a seven-game streak without one.
-- Dmitry Orlov had a pair of assists for his first
multi-point game since December 20th. He set a career high in assists with his 17th
and 18th helpers, breaking the 16-assist mark he set in his rookie
season in 2011-2012.
-- Evgeny Kuznetsov had another multi-point night with a
goal and an assist. It was his 17th
multi-point game of the season, tied for fourth-highest in the league. He leads the club in this category. He is 8-24-32 in his last 26 games.
-- Tom Wilson had eight hits in this game, more than twice
as many as any other player on the ice, except Orpik (5).
-- Brooks Laich had an assist, his first point since he had
an assist against the Devils on February 6th. They are the only two points in the 2016
portion of his season.
-- Although one could make an argument that two of the
Devils’ goals were not the fault of Braden Holtby in goal (that Palmieri goal looked kind of ugly), the fact is that he
has allowed three or more goals in four of his last five games. He is 4-1-0, 3.17, .887 over that span.
Bonus stuff…
-- The Caps win makes them 19-3-4 in one-goal games this
season, the best record in the league.
-- The Caps have 43 wins in 57 games, most wins by a team
through 57 games in NHL history. Their
90 points through 57 games is one off the league record (91), jointly held by the
1976-1977 and 1977-1978 Montreal Canadiens, and the 1979-1980 Philadelphia
Flyers.
In the end…
This was not the sharpest of nights for the Caps. It was
more a classic case of grinding a team down after they played the previous
night. The Devils enjoyed a 21-19 edge
in shot attempts in the first period, but the Caps turned that around with a
14-11 edge in the second period. In the
third, the Caps dominated with a 24-12 edge in shot attempts (numbers from war-on-ice.com). Add in the skill advantage the Caps have
relative to the Devils, and it was enough of a formula to keep the Caps
juggernaut running.