The Washington Capitals earned a 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils in their first road game of the season. Vitek Vanecek played lights out and the Caps gave the Devils their first loss of the season.
At 4:14, Trevor van Riemsdyk fed a pass to Daniel Sprong. Sprong tried to create an odd man rush. Dougie Hamilton slid and blocked Sprong’s initial pass to Anthony Mantha but Sprong got the puck and tried again and this time executed it as Mantha potted his second goal of the season.
At 9:33 the Caps doubled their lead. Evgeny Kuznetsov fed the puck to Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin shot it but the shot was blocked by Devils netminder Scott Wedgewood. Dmitry Orlov got the rebound and backhanded it in for his first goal of the season.
2-0 was the score after 20 with the Caps leading in shots on goal 13-8.
At 9:56 in the second period, Sprong pounced on a turnover and raced down the ice for a breakaway goal. 3-0 was the score after two with shots even at seven apiece.
In the third period at 9:16, the Caps worked the puck around. Ovechkin gave the puck to Kuznetsov. Kuzy found Tom Wilson before he gave the puck back to Kuznetsov and he fired it in for his third goal of the season.
At 13:18, Vanecek’s shutout bid was ruined by Janne Kuokkanen with a power play goal. Despite this, Vanecek still made 25 saves on 26 shots for a .962 save percentage. The Devils led in shots 11-7 in the third but the Caps had the slight edge overall 27-26.
Sprong spoke to the media after the game:
"“We got all four lines going, all six D-men going. Goalie has been playing great. I think we are playing a team game. We were disappointed with last year’s ending, and we wanted to get out to a good start.”"
Vanecek also talked to the media:
"“I felt pretty good, was confident. The guys was playing really good. The second period was a little bit tougher — they get some chances, but that is normal. Then I have to make a big save and help the team, too. They help me in first and third period, so it was pretty good game.”"
The Caps head back home for a Saturday afternoon matinee at Capital One Arena against the Calgary Flames. Puck drop is early at 1 p.m. for reasons I don’t understand. Unless they got a concert that night or something.