Grubauer, Capitals shut down Devils
NEWARK, N.J. -- In a battle of backup goalies, Philipp Grubauer and the Washington Capitals defeated Keith Kinkaid and the New Jersey Devils 6-2 in a New Year's Eve matinee Saturday at the Prudential Center.
Grubauer made 21 saves in the victory, while Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie and Justin Williams led Washington (21-9-5) with a goal and an assist each. Six different players scored goals for the Capitals, and 13 recorded at least one point.
Kinkaid finished with 20 saves for the Devils (14-16-7) who failed on each of their season-high nine power-play opportunities Saturday.
Washington led 2-0 after one period of play, and 5-1 after two, against Kinkaid who stopped 43 of 44 shots in the Devils 2-1 shootout victory over the Capitals on Thursday night.
Brett Connolly drove to the net untouched to deflect an Andre Burakovsky pass past Kinkaid just 2:36 into the game to give the visitors the early lead. Jay Beagle tipped another one past Kinkaid with 58.9 seconds remaining in the opening period to double Washington's advantage.
Though they failed on three first-period power plays, and another five in the following period, the Devils managed to close within 2-1 on Kyle Palmieri's unassisted goal with the teams skating 3-on-3 at the 6:53 mark of the second.
Grubauer made sure the Devils did not pull even less than two minutes later when he made a clutch pad save after P.A. Parenteau had slipped behind the Capitals' defense.
Washington then pulled away by scoring three goals in a 6 1/2-minute span to secure a 5-1 lead before the second intermission.
Oshie netted his 11th goal at 11:05, Ovechkin banked his team-high 17th off Kinkaid's skate and into the net 33 seconds later, and a deflection by Williams gave the Capitals a four-goal advantage at 16:34.
New Jersey's Beau Bennett and Washington's Marcus Johansson exchanged goals 35 seconds apart late in the third period to close out the scoring. Bennett's second of the season came at 14:52 and Johansson potted his 14th at 15:27.
New Jersey defenseman John Moore was injured 3:10 into the contest when checked hard into the boards behind the Devils net by Capitals winger Tom Wilson. He was taken off the ice on a stretcher and to a nearby hospital. No further information was provided on his condition.
NOTES: The last time G Keith Kinkaid started consecutive games for the Devils was March 29-31 last season, when a knee injury sidelined No. 1 G Cory Schneider. ... New Jersey was without injured LW Taylor Hall (lower body, day to day) and C Vernon Fiddler (lower body, 3-4 weeks) on Saturday. ... The healthy scratches for the Devils were D Yohann Auvitu and C Pavel Zacha. ... Capitals G Philipp Grubauer started for only the fourth time in the last 20 games. Grubauer won each of his previous three starts, allowing just five goals in total. ... LW Jakub Vrana and D Taylor Chorney were the healthy scratches for Washington.