Washington Capitals Game Blog: Capitals And Devils Tied At 1 After 2

Braden Holtby continued to show his flashy glove hand in the second period, denying multiple unguarded Devils to keep the game close through two. Holtby showed incredible composure on Steve Bernier’s penalty shot in the 13th minute, and this has undoubtedly been one of his best performances this season. However, Ilya Kovalchuck’s late-period laser would cancel out Alex Ovechkin’s early one-timer goal to tie the score at 1.

– John Carlson got called for a delay of game penalty 12 minutes into the period, and that’s been somewhat of a theme lately. Penalties themselves have not been the issue, as much as stupid penalties. Lack of awareness as to being aggressive has been what’s given opposing teams so many power plays all season, and whether it’s lack of focus or fatigue, the Capitals need to turn that around quickly if they even want to consider making a late push for a low playoff seed.

– The offense generated much better chances in the second, but will need to create more time-consuming offensive possessions in the first ten minutes of the third period to come out with the victory. Again, it’s all about keeping the defense rested so having 2-3 minute offensive possessions early on will make the Devils the tired team down the stretch and hopefully lead to a go-ahead goal for the Capitals.