Game Summary
When the horn sounded to end the third period, Devils fans everywhere rejoiced in jubilation over what they just witnessed. The Stanley Cup Champions came to town and were given the business to the tune of a 6-0 defeat. Right from the opening puck drop, New Jersey was flying and applying constant pressure. The offense was generating opportunity after opportunity, especially Pavel Zacha; but they just couldn’t break through Copley. Enter the red hot Kyle Palmieri, who planted himself in front of the net and had the good fortune of the puck bouncing off of his skate and through Copley for the 1-0 lead.
The offensive pressure would continue, with Copley making some huge saves including robbing Nico Hischier on the far post. Having said that, Nico did draw a penalty on the play. On the ensuing power play, Palmieri fired home a wrister from the right faceoff circle shortside and beat Copley for the 2-0 lead.
Former Capital Marcus Johansson Would capitalize with a goal in the second period to make it 3-0, after which the Devils ran away. Goals from Coleman, JS Dea and Boyle in the third would put the icing on the cake in this dominant performance.
Yes, the Capitals were playing the second in a back to back, but the Devils never gave them a chance to breathe or get engaged in the play. Lost in the scoring bonanza was a very confident performance from Keith Kinkaid. Keith may not have been under fire all night, but made the stops he needed to make, and came up big on a couple of occasions. Often times when a goalie isn’t getting much work, a puck seems to squeak through, but Kinkaid made sure that wasn’t the case.
Team Stats
Devils outshot Washington 36-21
Devils won the faceoff battle 62%-38%
New Jersey was 1-4 on the Power Play, Washington was 0-4
Washington outhit the Devils 30-19
Sammi Vatanen led all Devils skaters in TOI with 24:45 while John Carlson led the Capitals with 26:09
Takeaways
Pavel Zacha remains incredibly snake bitten when it comes to scoring. He had four high quality scoring chances and simply couldn’t get the puck in the net. After two games, he has a Corsi of 57.7, which backs up his current play. The results just haven’t come through yet. Zacha also is 60.7% on faceoffs so far, including 12/13 against Kuznetsov last night.
A healthy Marcus Johansson does wonders for the team’s depth, and answers the questions about why the Devils didn’t make any big signings in the offseason. He has posted a 64.4 Corsi thus far, and was able to show off his wrist shot accuracy from the slot on his first goal of the season.
This New Jersey team is picking up where they left off last season. The Devils play a very fast-paced, in your face style of game, and are going to be incredibly difficult to play against every night. The defense has looked aggressive and improved thus far, and the team really is displaying a great level of confidence in themselves and teammates.
Catch all of the goals from last nights blowout below courtesy of John Smith (@NJviDs)