Devils’ hot start stymied by Caps

The Capitals have been the best regular-season team in the Eastern Conference the past two years, and they showed the surprising Devils why.

Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and three assists and the Capitals knocked the upstart Devils from the unbeaten ranks with a 5-2 victory Friday night at Prudential Center.

“Everybody pitched in,” coach Barry Trotz said after the Capitals ended a 0-1-1 slide. “There were some great things that happened. We did a great job of managing their speed and limited them to not a lot of great chances. We had some good responses.”

Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri scored for the Devils, who had surprised many with their quick 3-0 start after finishing in the basement in the Eastern Conference last season. Cory Schneider made 23 saves, getting beat three times on the power play.

“It was our first time with adversity, and we didn’t do well,” Hall said after scoring his first goal of the season.

The Capitals clearly were the better team in this one. They forechecked well and bottled up the Devils in the neutral zone, limiting an offense that had 16 goals in its first three games.

“I thought we got stubborn with the puck at times,” Devils coach John Hynes said. “When you play against Washington, you see how teams like Pittsburgh have beaten them, going through them. They are able to push them back and put pucks behind them with speed. We didn’t do that enough.”

The Capitals got big games from all their stars.

T.J. Oshie had two goals and an assist, and Alex Ovechkin scored his ninth of the season and set up Backstrom’s power-play tally to help Washington hand New Jersey its first loss in four games.