In Newark, the visiting Washington Capitals’ Vitek Vanecek made 25 saves in a 4-1 win over New Jersey on Thursday night.
Evgeny Kuznetsov and Daniel Sprong scored goals and had two points apiece in the win.
“We’ve got all four lines going, all six defensemen going, the goalies have been playing great,” Sprong said. “I think we’re playing a team game and we were disappointed with last year’s ending (eliminated by the Boston Bruins in five games of the Stanley Cup First Round).”
Janne Kuokkanen scored New Jersey’s only goal.
“We didn’t win enough battles, 50-50 pucks,” Devils head coach Lindy Ruff said. “I thought their compete, for the most part, was greater than ours. We’re not going to win games losing that amount of plays along the walls, in the middle of the ice. You give them a good chance and they’ll convert.”
Anthony Mantha and Dmitry Orlov also scored for the Caps as they built a 4-0 lead into the third period.
“Offensively, we’ve put up some numbers, defensively, we’re not allowing too many shots, and our goalies are stopping the ones they need to stop,” Washington head coach Peter Laviolette said.
New Jersey scored late in the third period to spoil the shutout bid.
“I wasn’t thinking about their goal; I was focused for the next play,” Vanecek said. “They made a cross and [Vesey] brought it back and I tried to stay with him as much as possible and then I made that save, so it was good.”
Scott Wedgewood made 23 saves
“I’m not going to really buy any excuses,” Ruff said. “We know Jack’s out, so it’s somebody else’s opportunity. We have some guys that played well tonight. We probably had half our group play well and half that didn’t play so well. When that happens, you’re not going to win. I talked to the group about the game. We’re not going to win if half our group shows up, and that has nothing to do with Jack.
“If we don’t score because maybe the skill level of Jack is missing, then I’ll accept that. But the battles have nothing to do with Jack missing.”
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