Anleitungen » making it difficult on their top guys

NEWARK Nikolaj Ehlers Jersey , N.J. (AP) — Sharp in Europe, the New Jersey Devils played equally well at home.Kyle Palmieri scored twice, Keith Kinkaid made 21 saves and the Devils came back from a season-opening win in Sweden by routing the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals 6-0 Thursday night in their first game at a packed Prudential Center.Marcus Johansson, Blake Coleman, Jean-Sebastien Dea and Brian Boyle also scored. In their previous game, the Devils beat Edmonton 5-2 overseas last weekend“We continued the way we played in Sweden and were on top of them early,” Palmieri said. “I think all four lines, the defense, and Keith, all had a great game.”No disputing that, considering the Devils’ past woes against the Capitals. Washington was 14-1-2 in the previous 17 meetings.The Devils’ defense did an outstanding job stifling the Capitals, who had scored 18 goals in the first three games.Now it’s the Devils who have turned into an early-season juggernaut with 11 goals in two games.“We’re not taking too many risks and it’s about possessing the puck and making high percentage plays,” Palmieri said. “We’re fortunate enough that the pucks are ending up in the back of the net.”New Jersey also was able to keep the high-octane Capitals in check.“They have so much firepower,” Taylor Hall said. “They had a lot of Grade A chances and Keith came up big. There are still some things to work on, but overall, anytime you can shut a team like that out, especially on the power play, you’re going to win a game.”Pheonix Copley stopped 30 shots in his Capitals’ debut. He made some big stops early and didn’t have a lot of defensive support.“There were some good things and obviously some bad,” Copley said. “I can watch a video and learn from what happened.”Palmieri scored twice in the first period to stake the Devils to a 2-0 lead. The Devils had the better jump at the start, outshooting the Capitals 13-6 over the first 20 minutes.Washington http://www.jetsshoppro.com/authentic-patrik-laine-jersey , playing back-to-back after an emotional 5-2 win over Vegas on Wednesday in a rematch of the Stanley Cup final, started a step slow and New Jersey capitalized.“It felt like they had six or seven guys out there,” Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen said. “They were skating on ice. We were skating through mud. Give them some credit because they played really well, and we were not very good.”Palmieri put the Devils on the board at 7:02 on a shot that glanced off his skate in a goalmouth scramble.His second goal was a power-play drive from the top of the right circle at 18:33.That gave Palmieri four goals in his first four periods of the season. It was also the 16th time he has scored at least two goals in a game.Hopes for a Washington rally in the second were quickly dashed when Johansson scored against his former team 2:54 into the period. His shot from the blue line found the net behind a badly screened Copley.Copley kept the Caps in the contest early in the third, stopping Taylor Hall on a short-handed breakaway.Coleman put the game out of reach at 4-0 when he beat Copley to the short side from a sharp angle at 5:49. Dea added an insurance tally at 11:35 while Boyle scored with 5:15 left, giving each member of the Devils fourth line a third-period goal.The remaining drama centered on Kinkaid’s bid for a fifth career shutout. He made an outstanding stop on Jakub Vrana, stretching out to make a pad save midway through the period.NOTES: This was the first of four straight home games for New Jersey. … Kinkaid will carry the goaltending load as Cory Schneider continues his recovery from offseason hip surgery. Schneider has resumed skating with the team. … Hall was greeted by “MVP” chants as last year’s Hart Trophy winner was introduced to the crowd. … New Jersey scratched defensemen Eric Gryba, Steve Santini and RW Drew Stafford. The Washington scratches were C Jayson Magna, D Madison Bowey, RW Tom Wilson and LW Nathan Walker.UP NEXTWashington: Hosts Toronto on Saturday.New Jersey: Hosts San Jose on Sunday. ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) Of all the ways the Washington Capitals have tried to win in the playoffs, none has been as effective as this.They pushed the pace with speed and skill when Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom were part of the ”Young Guns.” They made every game a coin flip with tight, Dale Hunter hockey. Each time, an early exit followed.This year is different. Suddenly, the Capitals are a suffocating defensive team that clogs the middle of the ice and makes even the fastest of opponents look slow.The Vegas Golden Knights are the latest to get frustrated by Washington’s neutral-zone pressure that took a toll on Columbus, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, paving the way for this run to the Stanley Cup Final. After cruising through three rounds with ease, nothing looks easy right now for Vegas because the Capitals have mastered the art of frustration, and are two wins away from hoisting the Cup for the first time.”Offensive teams have certain tendencies, certain routes that they take through the neutral zone Brian Gibbons Jersey Womens , plays they like to make, so if you can be on top of them and turn over some pucks, stifle them, make it hard for them to gain entry with possession, that frustrates skilled players,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said Sunday. ”If you can be in their face, just standing in the way, it’s amazing what that does.”It’s amazing the transformation the Capitals have made since coach Barry Trotz challenged players late in the regular season to embrace this approach. It was clear as early as Game 4 of the first round that the 1-1-3 trap in the neutral zone had the ability to essentially shut down the opposing attack, and since the first two playoff games Washington is 10-2 when scoring first.The Golden Knights have found how difficult it is to try to come back against the Capitals and need to adjust quickly down 2-1 in the Cup Final going into Game 4 Monday night. They have to make some adjustments before it’s too late.”Our guys who have a lot of speed can go back deeper, gather some speed,” winger David Perron said. ”Then the defensemen can try to freeze the first forechecker, kick it wide. These guys coming with speed, if they’re confronted, which they will be most times at the blue line, you can put it in and go on the forecheck. You can have guys hang close to the right wing or up top, and as the puck is coming your way, win the one-on-one battle with support. … We also have to try to not let them set up, so if there’s a turnover, a quick one, we can punt it up Jaroslav Halak Jersey Womens , go back on offense.”The Penguins and Lightning tried that and couldn’t crack the Capitals well enough to advance.”They’re really good at slowing you down,” Lightning forward J.T. Miller said during the Eastern Conference final. ”Right when you want to just chip it and go, there’s a guy, there’s a wall there, and guys are ready to go back and get it on the other side. … It’s just their ability to stand up and make you force plays because it looks like there’s more ice than there is, and then all of a sudden they do a good job of staying in front and retrieving pucks.”Vegas is built on speed, but it’s hard to harness it if players can’t get blue line to blue line with the puck to create any offense. When the Capitals took a lead in Game 3, they went into their now-patented scheme.”It’s just kind of a group mentality to make life difficult on them,” winger Tom Wilson said. ”I think that’s when we’re at our best as a team is when we’re playing physical, we’re taking away time and space, making it difficult on their top guys.”That difficulty wears on a team, and Trotz said it’s noticeable when an opponent tries to change its game and manage the puck differently to counterbalance the trap. When it works effectively, not only does it limit changes against, but it creates the kind of odd-man rushes that have paced Washington’s offense this postseason.”It’s important to recognize moments when you can pressure, and we don’t want to get away from that, where we can send two guys and try to force teams into mistakes,” Niskanen said. ”If you can hold either the red line or the blue line with layers of support, you can force teams into turnovers, and we’ve done a good job of that.”—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals—