Capitals earn first preseason win over Devils

The Washington Capitals came into Prudential Center with a good lineup and came out with a win. Despite allowing a first period goal from old Cap Brenden Dillon at 14:37, things were smooth sailing in the 5-3 win over the New Jersey Devils.

John Carlson got the Caps on the board at 14:28 on a wrist shot up the middle off a feed from Alex Limoges and Jakub Vrana. Dylan Strome doubled the lead at 18:33 off feeds from Trevor van Riemsdyk and Alex Alexeyev. Newcomer Brandon Duhaime would score 27 seconds later off a tip in shot. Nic Dowd had the assist there.

The Caps had the edge in the shot department 8-7 in the first period and 15-6 in the second period. In the third the Devils had the edge 15-4 to just narrowly edge out the Caps 28-27 overall but Logan Thompson was brilliant in his Caps debut making 25 saves for a .893 save percentage.

In the third at 13:47 Strome added his second of the game off feeds from Carlson and Alex Ovechkin, who also made his preseason debut. Nico Hischier scored for the Devils at the 15 minute mark and Jack Hughes added another one at 17:03 but Duhaime would put it away with the empty netter. Dowd and Taylor Raddysh had the assists there.

"It was great, I thought my line was working together really well," Alex Limoges told the media in New Jersey. "We were creating a lot of chances, playing close, and moving the puck so a lot of fun to have chances."

Logan Thompson added:

I thought the whole d corp and forward group did an amazing job locking it down and the pucks that did get through early on, I think they're letting me see them and I think against a team like this it just helps get my confidence up and yeah I think it was a great team game and it was a great team win.

The Caps will next be back in action at 7 p.m. on Monumental Sports Network on Friday night from Capital One Arena against the Columbus Blue Jackets.