WASHINGTON — The Devils, who have been struggling to score goals, were blanked Saturday night.
Julien Brouillette broke a scoreless tie with his first NHL goal midway through the third period, Braden Holtby stopped 25 shots and the Capitals beat the Devils 3-0 in the teams’ final game before the Olympic break.
After the Capitals controlled a faceoff in the New Jersey zone, Brouillette beat Cory Schneider on the short side with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle at the 10:50 mark. The goal follows an assist Brouillette earned in his NHL debut Thursday night.
Martin Erat scored an empty-netter with 1:47 left for his first goal of the season and Troy Brouwer added another — his 100th career goal — 36 seconds later. Nicklas Backstrom had two assists.
Schneider finished with 23 saves. The Devils have been shut out seven times this season, sixth with the hard-luck Schneider in net.
“We didn’t do enough offensively I thought to draw enough penalties to maybe create some power plays late,” Devils coach Peter DeBoer said. “We had enough chances to get two or three goals. We’ve got to finish something off.”
Scoring chances were at a premium for both teams.
“Obviously the Devils play that kind of game. They are will to play it every night, and it’s a frustrating team to play,” Capitals coach Adam Oates said. “They don’t give you much. I looked up with nine minutes left in the third period, and I think it was 20 each in shots. Both teams played stingy.”
The win moves the Capitals to within one point of eighth place in the Eastern Conference with 63 points.
The Devils are in the thick of the hunt with 61 points, and both teams will have 23 games remaining after the break.
“Teams have made late charges and gotten in the playoffs and done some damage in the playoffs. Of course we think there is still time,” Schneider said, “but we’ve got to put words into action here and make it happen.”
The Devils, playing the second of back-to-back games, have lost 5 of 7.
The Devils outshot the Capitals 11-6 in the first period as the teams failed to convert two power-play opportunities apiece.
Early in the second, New Jersey’s Adam Henrique took a centering pass and wristed a shot past Holtby, but it banged off the left post.
“I thought we battled hard,” Elias said. “We played most of the game the way we wanted to. They just got the one goal that we didn’t.”
Four Devils are heading to Sochi, Russia, for the Olympics. Jaromir Jagr, Patrik Elias and Marek Zidlicky will be joining the Czech Republic team, and Damien Brunner will play for Switzerland.