NEWARK, N.J. — A day after being called up from the minor leagues, Paul Carey got the Washington Capitals to overtime with his first NHL goal.
T.J. Oshie and Alex Ovechkin took over from there.
Oshie and Ovechkin scored in the shootout, and the NHL-leading Capitals continued to roll, rallying for a 3-2 victory over the pesky New Jersey Devils 3-2 on Saturday.
The roll would not have continued without Carey. The 27-year-old who was playing in his 25th NHL game made the biggest play for the Capitals, deflecting a Matt Niskanen pass past Cory Schneider with 5:53 left in regulation.
“It’s great,” said Carey, who was appearing in his third game with Washington this season. “You always envision the goals being ones, and to tie it up in the third period is a great feeling and to help the team out on a call-up makes it even better.”
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On the goal, Brooks Laich passed the puck from behind the net to Matt Niskanen in the left circle. Carey deflected his centring pass past Devils goaltender Cory Schneider.
It capped a long day for Carey. He and fellow call-up Connor Carrick drove from Hershey, Pennsylvania, (AHL) to Washington on Friday and then boarded the team plane to the New York metropolitan area.
“I don’t think most guys knew it was his first NHL goal,” said Washington goaltender Braden Holtby, who had 22 saves. “That’s pretty exciting for him. That’s a big goal at a big time in the game.”
The Caps never trailed in the shootout.
Oshie beat Schneider between the pads on Washington’s first shootout attempt. Reid Boucher beat Holtby on the Devils’ third chance. Ovechkin then won it with a backhander.
Holtby had stopped Blandisi and Jacob Josefson on the Devils’ first two chances. Schneider made a pad save on Evgeny Kuznetsov on the Capitals’ second chance.
The Devils are now 2-6 in the shootout this season and have lost five in a row.
“We haven’t been successful, but it’s not something you think about and dwell on,” said Schneider, who had 28 saves.
Andre Burakovsky scored in his fifth straight game for Washington, while Holtby won his league-high 32nd game. He is 24-1-3 in his last 29 games.
Joseph Blandisi and Adam Henrique scored for the Devils, who have lost two straight games in shootouts in their bid to get to the playoffs for the first time in four years.
Coach John Hynes is happy with the Devils’ 1-0-2 start after the All-Star break.
“We know we are in a race and we want to try to remain competitive and find a way to win more games than we lose,” Hynes said.
Schneider and Holtby each came up big in the overtime. Schneider stopped a straight-on shot by John Carlson from between the circle and Holtby made a juggling save on a shot by Devils defenceman John Moore in the waning seconds.
Henrique had given the Devils a 2-1 lead 7:47 into the final period with a shot that beat Holtby on the short side in a somewhat lucky goal.
Lee Stempniak led a 2-on-1 break with Blandisi and his centring pass, deflected off the rookie to Henrique for his 17th goal of the season.
Blandisi had tied it 1-1 at 1:51 of the third period with a power-play goal. Blandisi found Travis Zajac in front of Holtby for the point-blank shot that dribbled between the goaltender’s pads toward the goal line. Blandidi got his stick on the puck before Carlson and nudged it into the back of the net for his third goal.
Burakovsky had given Washington the lead at 12:30 of the second period with his sixth goal in five games.
Kuznetsov, who has 11 assists in his last six games, set it up by skating the puck down the right boards and throwing a pass back in front of the net. Justin Williams took a shot in close and it deflected off Burakovsky’s skate past Schneider.
NOTES: Burakovsky played in his 100th NHL game. … Martin Brodeur, whose jersey will be retired Tuesday, dropped the ceremonial opening faceoff with Schneider and Holtby taking the draw. … Hynes had no update on when F Mike Cammalleri and D Jon Mitchell would return from upper body injuries. … The Devils had their second straight sellout at the Prudential Center.
