New Jersey Devils cool down Washington Capitals with huge 5-0 win -NHL Update
Just when Washington was getting back into form and ready to retake their position in the Eastern Conference, New Jersey Devils came along and dominated the Capitals, 5-0, snapping their three-game winning streak on Friday night, March 2, 2012, at the sold-out
Verizon Center in Washington, DC.
New Jersey captain, Zach Parise, was the star of the night as he picked up a hat trick and ultimately became the factor for their rebound win coming out of a 4-3 loss against Boston Bruins in overtime just a night earlier.
"He's the heartbeat of our team," New Jersey coach Peter DeBoer said about his captain. "He's a key piece, obviously. And he's a tough kid. He doesn't go down very often."
Parise was smashed into the side boards by Washington’s Matt Hendricks and Brooks Laich. The captain was on the ice and had to be helped off but was luckily back later on in the third after facing a swollen jaw.
"I was a little shaken up at first," said Parise. "After a while it went away."
Getting a win after his loss to Boston while sitting on the benches along with a day of rest, Johan Hedberg’s 23 save shutout victory was something that Devils’ main goalie, Martin Brodeur, and coach DeBoer were especially happy about.
"It was exactly what we needed, from the way Hedberg came in and made some saves early, to scoring some goals and shutting them down," DeBoer said. "It was what we needed, and in a lot of different areas."
Parise scored the first two of the night nearly six minutes apart, the first being on a midway power play advantage with Henricks out for high sticking.
Dainius Zubrus fired off his 16th of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season with less than two minutes to go in the first, taking the match 3-0 in favour of Devils entering the next period.
Parise capped it off with his third of the night 3:08 into the second followed by the finalising goal from Patrik Elias as New Jersey was shorthanded with Andy Greene was on the benches with a minor penalty.
New Jersey is still in the playoff race standing at number-six with 77 points and could be moving up in the ranks as they play against New York Islanders on Sunday.
Washington will be hosting Philadelphia on Sunday, a match that could certainly go in favour of a rowdy Flyers team.
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