Devils Bring the Shot Barrage to Washington
Two Metro clubs level on points meet in D.C., where the Capitals have been hard to beat and New Jersey arrives without Luke Evangelista.
Written before the game
Same record, very different hockey. The New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals are both 4-3-0 with 8 points through 7 games, but the way they got there could not be further apart.
New Jersey has been controlling games. The Devils average 74 shot attempts a night while allowing just 48.3, and their chances have been worth 3.69 expected goals per game, meaning the quality of looks they create would usually produce close to four goals. They allow 2.99. Yet their goal differential sits at even, a sign the finish has not matched the pressure.
Washington is living the other way. The Capitals are outattempted 65 to 54.3 on average and give up more dangerous chances than they create, yet they sit at +2 in goal differential. The bounces have gone their way.
The building may help: Washington is 3-1-0 at home, New Jersey 1-1-0 on the road. The Devils ride a two-game win streak, the Capitals a single win, and Luke Evangelista misses this one through illness.
The standings stakes are tight. Washington is third in the Metropolitan and eighth in the East; New Jersey sits fourth and holds the third wild-card spot. Two points here separate neighbours who are dead level today.
