NHL Preview from The Sports Network
Thursday, February 21st
(All times Eastern)
New Jersey Devils (9-3-4) at Washington Capitals (5-9-1), 7 p.m.
(Sports Network) - The New Jersey Devils will make the nation's capital their
home away from home for the next few days as they play the first of two
straight road games against the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.
The Devils are wrapping their season series with the Capitals by playing two
games in a row in Washington. The clubs meet for the final time on Saturday at
the Verizon Center.
New Jersey beat Washington for a fourth straight time on Jan. 25 at home,
recording a 3-2 victory in overtime. Three games of the Devils' series winning
streak have come after regulation.
Ilya Kovalchuk scored with 21 seconds to play in the bonus frame, while Martin
Brodeur made 26 saves. Mike Ribeiro and Mike Green scored for the Capitals.
New Jersey has won two straight in Washington, picking up a 5-0 victory in its
most recent trip there on March 2 of last season. Johan Hedberg made 23 saves
to get the shutout.
The Devils have lost three of their past four games overall, falling 2-1 in a
shootout versus the Ottawa Senators on Monday.
After the first three shooters came up empty, the Sens' Jakob Silfverberg
skated in and ripped a wrister high over the glove of Brodeur and Bobby Butler
failed to extend the shootout as he missed the net wide.
Stephen Gionta scored the lone New Jersey goal in regulation and Brodeur made
29 saves.
"We got a point regardless of how we got it," New Jersey captain Bryce
Salvador said. "It would have been nice to get the extra one but it just
wasn't meant to be."
Forward Ryan Carter was forced out of Monday's game with un upper body injury
after taking a hit along the boards, while David Clarkson is battling some
tightness in his neck and back. Clarkson, though, is expected to play in this
game and leads the Devils with 10 goals.
The Capitals seek to rebound after having a season-high, three-game winning
streak snapped on Sunday with a 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers. John Carlson
scored for Washington, but the Blueshirts picked up a game-winning power-play
goal early in the third period.
The Caps were shorthanded five times in the game overall.
"We took too many penalties and it ended up costing us," Capitals coach Adam
Oates said. "We didn't give them a lot of chances, but we still made a lot of
mistakes."
Braden Holtby stopped 38 shots and Ribeiro notched his 400th career assist on
Carlson's goal. Thirteen of those have come in his first season with
Washington and Ribeiro also leads the club with 18 points.
Green missed the game due to a lower body injury and teammate Marcus Johansson
didn't play the finale of a three-game road trip due to an upper body ailment.
Both are day-to-day.
02/21 10:29:50 ET

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