Washington Capitals Shutout Devils 3-0, Win Sixth in a Row

The Washington Capitals won their sixth game in a row on Friday night as Braden Holtby shutout the New Jersey Devils 3-0 at Capital One Arena. The defending champs continue to roll

Washington’s win improves their record to 40-21-7 this season with 87 points, putting them in sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division. They passed the Islanders, who sit at 85. The Penguins are now in third place with their win over the Blue Jackets on Thursday.

This wasn’t the Capitals’ best game but Holtby bailed them out. There were a few close calls and the Capitals took plenty of penalties. Thankfully for them, they were able to kill them all off and were able to take advantage of a team that came into the game 0-for-18 on the power play in their last eight games.

“Even if we didn’t play our best, it’s a good thing that we came out of it with two points,” Nicklas Backstrom said. “But we’re a smart group in here. We realize we can play a lot better.”

The Capitals went up early thanks to Andre Burakovsky, as he continued his tear. Burakovsky finsihed a tic-tac-toe sequence from Travis Boyd, to Michal Kempny, to Burakovsky at 2:40. It was his 11th goal of the season and his third straight game with a goal. Burakovsky wasn’t the only one with a point streak though, Boyd’s assist extended his point streak to three games (all assists).

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Both teams killed off their opponent’s power plays including the Devils surviving a 5-on-3. The Capitals went 0-for-3 on the power play but stopped both Devils power plays in the first period. The Capitals also outshot the Devils 11-10 to take a 1-0 lead into the break.

The second period featured two penalty kills from the Capitals. First Matt Niskanen was called for holding at 5:06. Then at 10:44, Nic Dowd went to the box for interference. Washington killed both penalties successfully as well as the carryover penalty from the end of the first period which Jakub Vrana was called for interference. The score would remain 1-0 with the Capitals outshooting the Devils 13-10.

The Capitals extended their lead to 2-0 at 4:35 in the third period when Backstrom deflected in a shot from John Carlson. It was his 17th goal of the season. Backstrom had a hat trick the last time the Capitals played the Devils which was a 6-3 Washington win on Nov. 30.

Lars Eller put the game away with a steal and an empty net goal. It was Eller’s ninth of the seaosn. Cue the Eye of the Tiger music!

The Capitals outshot the Devils 36-25. Holtby got the win stopping all 25 Devils shots for his fifth win in a row. Just two nights after becoming the second-fastest goaltender in NHL history to win their 250th career game, Holtby’s shutout was a milestone in and of itself. It was the 35th shutout of his career, tying Capitals legend Olaf Kolzig for the most shutouts in franchise history.

The Capitals will host the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night at 7 p.m. The Jets blew out the Hurricanes 8-1 on Friday.