Capitals 5, Devils 3
WASHINGTON - Alex Ovechkin scored the go-ahead goal and added an assist, Braden Holtby made 22 saves and the Washington Capitals opened their season with a 5-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
After receiving the puck in his own end, Ovechkin dashed into the New Jersey zone and after entering the left circle slid the puck between his own legs to get around defenseman John Moore.
The Washington winger fired a shot over goaltender Keith Kincaid's left shoulder to make it 3-2 with 13:27 remaining.
Later in the period, Ovechkin helped make it 4-2 when he set up left wing Marcus Johansson's power play goal with a pretty pass through the slot after retrieving his own blocked shot.
Washington left wing Jason Chimera and defenseman Matt Niskanen also notched a goal and an assist, and defenseman Brooks Orpik scored.
Center Adam Henrique, defenseman Eric Gelinas and left wing Mike Cammalleri scored for New Jersey (0-2-0).
Kinkaid, starting in place of Cory Schneider in the second of back-to-back games, made 22 saves.
Back-to-back penalties gave Washington a 5-on-3 power play for 1:38 late in the second period, but they didn't score.
Kincaid made several solid stops, including a sliding pad save on right wing T.J. Oshie, who got in alone while the Devils were making change.
Holtby returned the favored with a similar save to thwart Henrique on a breakaway after the power play.
Following a quiet 10 minutes, the Capitals took a 2-0 lead in the first period.
With Washington center Evgeny Kuznetsov off for hooking, defenseman John Carlson started a rush when he cleared the puck out to right wing Justin Williams.
Williams skated in and dropped the puck back to Chimera, who sent the puck back toward Williams near the net and it deflected off New Jersey right wing Jordin Tootoo's stick and past Kincaid.
It was the first time in franchise history that the Capitals' opening goal of a season came short-handed.
Then at 14:32 into the period, defenseman Tom Wilson skated out from behind the Devils net, fed Orpik in the slot, and he fired low to make it 2-0.
Orpik, in his second year with the Capitals, played 78 games last season without a goal.
The Devils answered 22 seconds later when Henrique came in alone off a feed from center Jiri Tlusty and beat Holtby high to the stick side.
Gelinas tied it at 17:40 with a blast from the point on a power play.
NOTES: C Reid Boucher, RW Tuomo Ruutu and D Damon Severson were scratched for the Devils. ... New Jersey C Brian O'Neill, 27, made his NHL debut. ... The Washington scratches were D Taylor Chorney and RW Stanislav Galiev. ... C Nicklas Backstrom, the 2014-15 NHL assists leader, is recovering from offseason hip surgery and is expected to miss Washington's first four to five games. ... Capitals D Dmitry Orlov returned after missing all of last season due to wrist surgery. ... Washington was 4-1 against New Jersey last season, outscoring the Devils 17-6. ... After opening with games on consecutive nights, New Jersey doesn't play another back-to-back set until Nov. 27-28.