NEWARK, N.J. – More than halfway through Friday night’s game at the New Jersey Devils, Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin looked up at the big scoreboard hanging from the Prudential Center roof in slack-jawed wonder.
His team had managed all of three shots on goal in over 30 minutes of play. Washington had already killed two New Jersey power plays and soon needed to cope with one of the four-minute variety.
But despite the lopsided shots and the extra time spent on the penalty kill — not to mention the sleepy nature of a game Ovechkin termed “boring” — the Caps found themselves ahead. Rookie goalie Michal Neuvirth and defensemen Jeff Schultz were behind that unlikely turn of events. Their teammates made sure that lead held up in a 3-0 shutout of the Devils.
“It was a rope-a-dope type of game, probably not too exciting for everybody to watch,” said Washington coach Bruce Boudreau. “But it was what we wanted to do to succeed.”
Mike Knuble scored two goals and John Carlson and Ovechkin each had two assists. Neuvirth stopped all 33 shots he faced for his fourth shutout of the season. Schultz recorded his first goal of the season. He hadn’t scored at all since a Feb. 11, 2010 goal against Ottawa.
All of that meant the Caps (42-21-10, 94 points) again pulled into a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference playoff race with the Philadelphia Flyers (43-19-8, 94 points), who still have three games in hand on Washington. The two teams meet on Tuesday in Philadelphia. For now, the Caps are just one win or a regulation loss by ninth-place Carolina from clinching their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup playoff spot — though they didn’t resemble a playoff team much in the early going Friday.
“We were flat. They came out flying and [Neuvirth] held the fort down there,” Knuble said. “It was probably the franchise-record almost for low shots for. But it’s the style we’re playing now. We can defend and play solidly as a group. We got to capitalize on our chances tonight and that was the difference.”
Indeed, the Caps smothered New Jersey in the third period once that lead was established. Knuble’s first goal at 15:58 of the second period came after wonderful cross-ice passes from Ovechkin and then Carlson. That made it 2-0. Once Washington killed a four-minute high-sticking penalty to Matt Hendricks late in the second and in the first 51 seconds of the third the momentum was theirs.
Neuvirth rebounded from a so-so performance at Detroit on Wednesday — his first game in nine days thanks to an eye injury and the eye-opening play of fellow rookie goalie Braden Holtby. Those two and Semyon Varlamov are still vying for the No. 1 spot in the playoffs. Neuvirth hopes this latest shutout is enough to give him the advantage.
“I want the job all season long. I think I’ve had ups and downs, but lately been pretty good and I’m confident about my game,” Neuvirth said. “I think my best times is in the playoffs. But you never know and we’ve got nine games left. Even [Varlamov] is coming back [from a knee injury]. We’ve got three good goalies and only one net so it’s going to be interesting.”
