Top 3 ways Capitals can beat Devils

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Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports /

#2 Win the special teams battle

The Caps are currently in the middle of the pack when it comes to power play success ranking 16th in the NHL with a success rate of 21.1 percent. The Devils aren’t much better on the power play even though they are a very good team. Their success rate of 21.7 percent puts them 14th in the league.

Over on the penalty kill side of things the Caps are actually better than the Devils. The Caps are ranked eighth with a kill rate of 82.7 percent while the Devils are ranked 10th with a kill rate of 81.5 percent.

The Caps have scored a power play goal in six of their last seven games and have scored eight power play goals on their last 28 opportunities over their last nine games dating back to Feb. 16. That’s a success are of 28.6 percent.

Six different players have scored on the power play during the seven game stretch (T.J. Oshie: 3 power play goals, Alex Ovechkin, Sonny Milano, Tom Wilson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Nicklas Backstrom each with one PPG.

Backstrom (one goal, three assists) and Oshie (three goals, one assist) have factored in on four of Washington’s eight power play goals in that span.

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