In Washington, Nicklas Backstrom struck for two goals in the third period as the Capitals defeated the visiting Vegas Golden Knights, 5-2, it was Washington’s sixth straight win.
“I think we’re working together as a team,” Backstrom said. “We’re doing all the details right. We’re trying to follow the system that the coaches want us to play. I feel like when you have confidence like we have … we’re just trying to keep going and get better every day. So far, so good.”
Braden Holtby made 30 saves to get the win.
Max Pacioretty and Reilly Smith scored for the Knights who have fallen flat in their last five games, 1-1-3.
“I don’t think we played as good as we had in the past lately, and we just didn’t look [like we were] getting ready to beat a good team,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “We had to play a lot better than that.”
Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jonas Siegenthaler also scored for the Caps who improved to 10-0-1 in their last 11.
“When we support each other in our zone when we have the puck, that’s how we get those 3-on-2, 2-on-1 looks,” Kuznetsov said. “The hockey’s pretty simple right now. You have to go back for the puck. Not only one defenseman. It has to be all five guys.”
Tom Wilson had a marker for the Caps.
“I was really impressed with our start to the game because they were ready to go,” Caps head coach Todd Reirden said. “They’ve been hyping this game up, and we responded. I challenged our guys pretty good before the game and got, I thought, a really good response to start with.”
[WATCH: All Golden Knights vs. Capitals highlights]
Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves in the loss.
“Obviously, it’s a tough way to start the game, but I feel like I wasn’t good,” Fleury said. “I didn’t make the key saves, or I didn’t change the game in a good way for us. I didn’t make those key saves to keep the score close.”
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