Copley swarmed as offense dries up
NEWARK, N.J. – Washington Capitals goaltender Pheonix Copley hugged the post, attempting to seal off the right side of the net as the New Jersey Devils again swarmed in front of him. Blake Coleman’s shot found a hole anyway, and for a fourth time Thursday night, the Prudential Center goal horn sounded and Copley again tried to brace himself in net. He’d played pretty well for just his second NHL start, and yet the score was lopsided. The Devils would score two more times before his night was mercifully over.
Washington’s high-powered offense dried up as the team suffered its first regulation loss of this young season, falling to the New Jersey, 6-0. The Capitals (2-1-1) had scored 18 goals in their first three games before Thursday’s shutout. Meanwhile, they bled scoring chances, and in his first appearance of the season, Copley allowed six goals on 36 shots.
“He made some really good saves, and we gave up some really good chances, and a lot of times, we didn’t give him a ton of support,” Coach Todd Reirden said. “There’s probably a couple goals he’d like to have back as well, but for the most part, he at least kept us in it early with some really high-quality chances against.”
The Capitals will likely consider this a schedule loss down the road — Washington opened the season with a back-toback, then had five days off before another back-to-back set of games — but the game was also an example of what the defending Stanley Cup champions can come to expect. Teams will want to measure themselves against the Capitals, putting forth their best effort, and on Thursday, the Devils (2-0-0) looked like the faster and more organized team.
“It felt like they had six or seven guys out there at times,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said. “They were skating on ice, and we were skating through mud.”
Copley hasn’t made an NHLregular-season start since Jan. 21, 2017, and his last time in net before Thursday’s game was against St. Louis, when he had a 42-save shutout in the teams’ preseason meeting. That was nearly three weeks ago, and while Copley spent that time working with goaltending coach Scott Murray in practice, he was rusty from lack of game action. Though top goaltender Braden Holtby didn’t play two games in two nights last season, Reirden started him both of the first two games, when the team played Boston and then division rival Pittsburgh.
Reirden was hopeful that starting Copley against the Devils less than 24 hours after the Capitals beat the Vegas Golden Knights would be a better situation for his season debut. But while Copley looked fresh and sharp to start the game, his teammates struggled. NewJersey unloaded the first five shots of the game in the first five minutes. Saturday, 7 p.m. TV: NBCSWA