For a game that had just two goals scored in the hockey
portion of the contest, the Washington Capitals and the New Jersey Devils had
their moments in the Devils’ 2-1 trick shot win.
The scoring was sparse, initiated by the Devils after a scoreless
first period. It was PA Parenteau doing
the honors, taking advantage of a giveaway by Evgeny Kuznetsov out of his own
corner, trying to find Dmitry Orlov with an ill-advised no-look pass. The puck slid out to the high slot where
Parenteau was filling in. His shot
appeared to nick Orlov on the way through, and it was just enough of a change
in direction to elude goalie Braden Holtby to make it 1-0, just 1:05 into the
second period.
It took the Caps until the third period to solve Devils
goalie Keith Kinkaid, and it came while shorthanded. It was the product of superb effort by Daniel
Winnik to start and end the play, and by Jay Beagle to keep the play
alive. It started with Winnik collecting
a loose puck at his own blue line and skating it up the right wing. Winnik shielded the puck away from Adam
Henrique as he closed on the net and managed to get a shot on Kinkaid. As Kinkaid fought off the shot with his right
pad, Beagle was closing on the left side. He outdueled Yohann Auvitu for the puck, and
from his knees he found Winnik at the top of the crease. Winnik’s first whack at the puck was stopped
by Kinkaid, but not the second one. Winnik slid the puck past Kinkaid’s right pad,
and the score was tied, 1-1, 3:50 into the third period.
That would be all the scoring, though, and the game went to
the freestyle competition. T.J. Oshie
and Evgeny Kuznetsov came up empty, while Mike Cammalleri and Jacob Josefson
scored to give the Devils the extra standings point.
Other stuff…
-- The 44 shots on goal was a season high for the Caps, topping
the 41 they recorded in on Opening Night in a 3-2 Gimmick loss to the
Pittsburgh Penguins. High shot volumes
have not been the Caps’ friend this season.
With this loss, the Caps are 5-3-4 when recording 35 or more shots on
goal.
-- It’s not often that any Capital record more shots on goal
in a game than Alex Ovechkin, but it is very rare when three Caps do it. Dmitry Orlov (6), Daniel Winnik (6), and
Nicklas Backstrom (5) all had more shots on goal than Ovechkin (4).
-- Winnik’s six shots came in just 12:36 in ice time, and he
managed to get all of his shot attempts on net.
-- The Caps had as many shots while shorthanded as the
Devils had on their power play (4).
-- That Brooks Orpik was credited with five hits is not
unusual. That Evgeny Kuznetsov was
credited with four is.
-- Coming into this game, the Caps were 9-0-1 when allowing
one or no goals. This made it two
Gimmick losses in such situations, their first this season on home ice.
-- All of a sudden, the power play has gone cold again. After recording power play goals in five
straight games and seven of eight contests, the Caps extended their current
drought on the man advantage to four straight games, going 0-for-4 against New
Jersey.
-- Meanwhile, the penalty killers are doing just fine. After shutting out the Devils on four man
advantages, the Caps have run off five straight games without allowing a power
play goal (15-for-15) and seven of their last eight games (27-for-28).
-- This was the sixth time in 16 appearances on home ice
that Braden Holtby allowed one or fewer goals this season. He is 10-5-1, 1.81, .928, with three shutouts
on home ice.
-- The loss dropped the Caps to 4-5-3 in the Metropolitan
Division.
In the end…
There was a glass-half-full/glass-half-empty quality to this
game. In the full half of the glass was
getting 44 shots on goal. In the empty
half was Keith Kinkaid seeing first shots all too clearly and the Caps not
doing, or being prevented from doing much about getting to rebounds. The Devils played to keep shooting lanes
clear for Kinkaid to focus on the puck while boxing out Caps from setting
screens or jumping on loose pucks. For a
team as offensively-challenged as the Devils (27th in scoring
offense) and missing Taylor Hall to boot, it would seem to be the style that
gives them the best chance to win. The
Caps did not do enough to shake the Devils out of their protect-the-house
style, making a 44-shot volume seem more impressive than it was. The Caps will get a chance to show if they
learned anything when they face the Devils in the back half of the home and
home on Saturday afternoon.
