NHL Game Summary - New Jersey at Washington
Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - Alex Ovechkin remained hot, scoring in his third consecutive game, and the Washington Capitals posted a 6-2 win over the previously unbeaten New Jersey Devils on Thursday.
Marcus Johansson broke a 2-2 tie in the second period and the Capitals scored three times in a span of 7:59 in the third.
Braden Holtby made 26 saves for Washington, which has earned at least a point in each of its first four games (2-0-2).
Rookie Damon Severson scored two goals in the first period for the Devils, who were seeking their first 4-0 start since 1995-96.
Cory Schneider gave up five goals on 26 shots before being replaced by Scott Clemmensen, who stopped 6-of-7 shots in his season debut.
Ovechkin opened the scoring 34 seconds into the game after Devils defenseman Andy Greene couldn't keep the puck in the Washington zone. A shot by Troy Brouwer led to a long rebound to Ovechkin in the slot. Ovechkin then beat Schneider to the far side from just inside the right circle for his fifth goal of the season.
"It was a good breakout, a little bit of a turnover by them and we were able to capitalize on it," Brouwer said.
Severson tied the game at the 10:15 mark of the first period, firing a slap shot from above the right circle that found the top left corner of the net.
The Capitals retook the lead 47 seconds later when Chris Brown's sharp-angle slapper sailed over Schneider's left shoulder. Devils defenseman Eric Gelinas tried to ride Brown out of the play, but the Washington forward powered through the check along the right-wing boards before scoring the go-ahead goal.
New Jersey drew even on another drive from the right point by Severson with 3:24 remaining in the first.
Johansson put Washington back on top when he collected Brooks Laich's pass off the cycle and fired home a wrist shot from the high slot at 6:18 of the second period.
The Capitals pulled away in the third.
Nicklas Backstrom was in the slot and deflected in a Matt Niskanen wrist shot just 56 seconds into the frame.
Joel Ward scored at 3:25 when his shot from just inside the blue line caromed off the end boards, hit Schneider and trickled into the net.
Rookie Andre Burakovsky added a power-play goal at 8:55.
"I thought we had an excellent first period. I thought we could have had three or four goals," said Devils head coach Peter DeBoer. "We didn't cash in and we came out of the period 2-2 and they got better in the second and the third and we shot ourselves with too many penalties and got a little away from our game plan."