In Newark, the Washington Capitals built a 3-0 lead through two periods of play over the Devils on Friday night, then held off New Jersey for a 4-2 win.
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his second of the game, into an empty net, with less than two minutes on the game clock for the 4-2 final.
“It was a good start, but then we give up a couple goals late in the third, so they were able to come back, but eventually we got the [win],” Kuznetsov said. “That’s all that matters. For us, it was very important to get the [win], especially in the first game of the back to back. The coaches will look what went wrong and we’re going to fix that part for sure.”
Charlie Lindgren made 24 saves in the Caps win.
“It was a gritty one tonight, going up 3-0, we knew they weren’t going to go away easy, and they certainly punched back in the third,” Lindgren said. “But being able to come out on top in their building is a really good win for our guys.”
Washington improved to 6-4-2.
Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer scored two minutes apart in the third period to trim the Caps’ advantage down to 3-2 by 9:12 of the period.
New Jersey dropped to 7-5-1.
“Some of it was execution … we didn’t execute early on and didn’t win enough puck battles,” New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. “I thought they skated better than us, but we had chances to make plays. We gained some traction in the third but didn’t execute.”
The Caps hit for two goals in 15 seconds near the midway point of the first period.
“I thought we were ready from the start, that first shift, Kuznetsov’s line with (Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson) sort of set the tone right away,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “Then Aube-Kubel, Nic Dowd and Malenstyn had a lot of energy on the fourth line.
“They won more battles early in the game and we were chasing the game,” Meier said. “You’ve got to play a full 60 minutes; we didn’t do that. You can earn confidence with hard work, so you’ve got to go out there and simply work.”
At 10:22 of the first period, Nicolas Aube-Kubel staked the Caps to a 1-0 lead.
Beck Malenstyn scored 15 seconds later for a 2-0 lead
Kuznetsov stretched the lad to 3-0 at 6:34 of the middle frame on a two on nne breakaway.
“I liked Kuznetsov’s line, getting him back with Ovechkin,” Carbery said. “That (third) goal is a huge goal to get us up three, and he has the dagger at the end (into the empty net). I thought they did a lot of good things.”
Vitek Vanecek got the start for New Jersey and surrendered two goals and made three saves before getting the hook midway through the first period.
Akira Schmid made 18 saves in relief..
“We have to find ways to be creative without Nico and Jack,” Ruff said. “We miss them. Our game can’t be the same without those guys, but we have to keep grinding.”
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