Capitals Skate Past Devils for Big Win

The Washington Capitals earned two big points on Day 156 in a 3-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils. The win moved Washington into fifth place in the Wales Conference at 36-32-11. The Capitals lead Philadelphia by one point and Pittsburgh and New Jersey by four. Washington, Philadelphia and New Jersey have three games remaining, while the Penguins have four.

After a scoreless first period, Frantisek Lukes gave the Caps a lead at 6:39 of the second. The goal, Lukes' 25th of the season, was assisted by Mikael Renberg and Dan Boyle. New Jersey fought back to tie the game through Huselius at 11:34. Two recent arrivals, Svehla and Lemieux, setup the goal for the Devils. Washington came right back after the score was tied to regain the lead. Bryan Berard was the scorer from Renberg and Rob Blake just 52 seconds after Huselius' goal.

The Capitals locked things down in the final 20 minutes and gave up just eight shots on goal. Todd Warriner potted an insurance tally from Greg Watson and Jonathan Cheechoo at 18:37 to provide the final score.

Manny Legace made 22 saves to earn the win and improve to 29-27-8. Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 25 shots in the loss and fell to 32-31-5.

The Capitals are off for two days before visiting Chicago on Day 159.