Capitals beat Stars, former teammate Braden Holtby 5-0

Nicklas Backstrom had a objective and two assists and Vitek Vanecek had 30 saves for his second shutout of the season because the Washington Capitals beat former teammate Braden Holtby and the Dallas Stars 5-0 on Friday evening.

Trevor van Riemsdyk, Tom Wilson, John Carlson and Connor McMichael additionally scored for the Capitals, who received in regulation for the primary time since Jan. 15. Evgeny Kuznetsov additionally had two assists.

The Caps scored just one objective of their two earlier video games, their lone back-to-back regulation losses this season.

“Offensively, it was good to get some outcomes,” stated Capitals coach Peter Laviolette, whose staff is 8-1-3 after a regulation defeat.

Vanecek has stopped 160 of the final 170 photographs he’s confronted.

The Caps (24-12-9) personal the Japanese Convention’s first wild card and are three factors out of third place within the Metropolitan Division.

The Stars (22-17-2) are tied with Calgary for the West’s second wild card.

Holtby allowed all 5 objectives and stopped 22 photographs earlier than being changed after two intervals by Jake Oettinger, who made two saves.

It was Holtby’s first profession sport in opposition to the Capitals, his former staff for the primary 10 of his 12 NHL seasons. He received the Vezina Trophy in 2015-16 and was Washington’s main goalie in his 20-17-18 Stanley Cup run.

“I hate to see that; he had a tricky evening,” Backstrom stated of Holtby, “however everyone knows what he’s carried out for our group, for our membership, for our followers.”

The Stars, who retired Corridor of Famer Sergei Zubov’s quantity earlier than the sport, misplaced after profitable 4 straight, all on the highway. They have been shut out for the second time this season, the opposite approaching Dec. 9.

Dallas coach Rick Bowness stated of Holtby: “When the entire staff is unhealthy in entrance of him, we’re not going to level fingers at anyone.”

Backstrom’s objective on a wrister from the left circle got here with 3:10 left within the second interval to finish out the scoring. Restricted to 12 video games starting Dec. 15 primarily due to a hip harm, all three of his objectives this season plus 4 assists have come within the final 5 video games.

It appeared Dallas’ Joe Pavelski scored solely 42 seconds in on the staff’s first shot on objective, however Washington efficiently challenged the play for being offside. Quickly after, the Caps started goal apply on Holtby.

The primary two objectives have been one-timers on energy performs, by Wilson from the suitable circle at 1:29 solely 10 seconds into the penalty on Washington’s first shot on objective and Carlson from the excessive slot at 7:54. Van Riemsdyk made it 3-0 at 13:08 from close to the blue line simply contained in the far publish previous a screened Holtby.

McMichael shot into an open web with 7:57 to play within the second interval after Lars Eller skated into the trapezoid and introduced Holtby out of his crease for a 4-0 lead.

THROWING A COMPLETE GAME

The Caps got here into the sport with the No. 30 energy play within the NHL and have been 0 for 16 throughout their earlier 5 video games. On the penalty kill, they went 3 for 3 and held Dallas’ third-ranked residence energy play to at least one shot throughout John Carlson’s double-minor within the second interval.

“PK was good. The ability play was good. I believed the 5 on 5 was good,” Laviolette stated. “I consider that we’re going to attain, and so what we have to management is the protection a part of it. Tonight, we have been actually good. Vitek made massive saves once we wanted him to make massive saves.”

SPOILING THE PARTY

Zubov grew to become the sixth participant for the Minnesota-Dallas franchise, which started play in 1967-68, to have his quantity retired. He performed the final 12 of his 16 NHL seasons with the Stars, together with the Stanley Cup season of 1998-99. Zubov was inducted into the Hockey Corridor of Fame in 2019, however Dallas delayed the ceremony due to the pandemic.

Zubov ended his speech earlier than the sellout crowd saying, “I’ll perpetually be proud to name myself a Dallas Star.”

UP NEXT

Capitals: At Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

Stars: Host Boston on Sunday evening.