Capitals move back into first place, sort of, with 5-2 win over Devils originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
If there was ever a weekend that showcased the uniqueness of the 2021 regular season, the Capitals are in the midst of it.
After a 5-2 win over the Devils on Saturday they’ll play once again Sunday, which will be the Capitals’ fifth game in eight days. The slow starts which had plagued them all season weren’t a problem and neither was the afternoon game, as they withstood a late Devils push to earn the win.
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And now, the Capitals have moved back into first place in the Massmutual East — sort of.
They have 26 points which means they’ve passed the Bruins (24 points) for first place, at least for now. The Capitals have played 20 games compared to the Bruins 18, but if points percentage is the determining factor — as it very well may be at season’s end — the Capitals are third, the Bruins are second and the Flyers (23 points in 17 games) are in first.
It’s a nice boost for a Capitals team that’s 5-1-1 in their last seven games, but there’s still certainly work to do.
“Yeah, I think we’re definitely not satisfied still,” defenseman John Carlson said. “I think it’s been better, I would say, but you can’t kind of say you’re there after six games. So we still have a lot to learn, a lot to clean up and a lot we can improve on, I think, is the main thing. I think we’re confident in our team, but we’ve got a long ways to go.”
After a dominant first period, the Capitals stalled out offensively and tallied just nine shots in the final 40 minutes. A Jakub Vrana breakaway goal put the game to bed for the Capitals, but not without a few scares from the Devils, who attempted a furious comeback.
“I think games always change a little bit when the score is 3-0 or 4-0,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “You don’t want it to, but it does. I don’t think we were terrible in the second period, but I don’t think it was our best period. I really liked the way we played the third period. I thought we competed hard and we had some chances in there and we were able to put the game away.”
It might seem silly to standings watch just 20 games into a season, a year in which the Capitals have a new coach and have only recently begun to start their optimum lineup. But with just 36 games left to go, it’s not necessarily too early.
The Devils are seventh in the eight-team East Division, meaning it’s imperative the Capitals stack up as many wins against non-playoff teams as possible to put themselves in a position for success against the Bruins, Flyers, Penguins and Islanders.
And depending on how the NHL deals with the COVID-19 pandemic the rest of the season, the determining factor for playoff seeding could be points percentage. If that’s the case, the Capitals could be dropped down in seeding or even left out of the playoffs entirely in a scenario where they have more points than another team, but in more games played.
So Saturday’s game was important for the team in the way that they slowed down a younger, faster team and continued to grow into Laviolette’s system. It also mattered in the way that wins like that, which looked not certain for a bit of the third period, will certainly add up.
“Particularly the last two games here, I think Pittsburgh was maybe our best game of the season and today we finally came out with a really good start, we were on our toes, all four lines were going,” center Lars Eller said. “I'm encouraged by what I've seen here lately, but especially the last two games more so maybe and then the last five, seven or so.”
