Paul Cotter Shines in Devils’ Victory Over Capitals

Photo Credit: Washington Capitals

Washington, DC — A mere 48 hours after laying a dud in their home opener, New Jersey bounced back with a solid performance down in the nation’s capital. The Devils playing their fourth game of the season, spoiled the party at Capital One Arena, defeating the Capitals in their season opener and heading back up I-95 with two points.

Being traded for a former top 10 pick and a goalie that beat the New York Rangers in a seven game playoff series was never going to go over well with the fans in New Jersey. But Paul Cotter (2G, 13:10 T.O.I) has quickly turned into a fan favorite after scoring his third and fourth goals of the season.

This game all started like most Devils games the past year, with the other team scoring. With Washington on the power-play, John Carlson (1G & 1A) was able to perfectly place a shot from the point past Jacob Markstrom (29/32 SV), who was given a second consecutive start, to give the Capitals the early 1-0 lead just under 11 minutes into the game.

Unlike Thursday night in Newark, the Devils responded quickly with not just one goal, but two from rookie defensemen Seamus Casey (1G, 9:45 T.O.I) and then Paul Cotter in a span of 2:42. Casey tied the game on another one of his “toe-drag” shots that is just deceptive enough to pull around his defender and beat Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren (28/32 SV).

“He’s got a lot of confidence in his ability on offense,” Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe said on Casey’s goal. “That’s why we trust him in those situations, power play, and such. That’s a big goal for us to get us going like that. He shows that he has that ability, that’s two now. It’s essentially the same kind of move to get into that space but he mixes up the shots to different areas of the net, so big goal, big moment for us.”

The Devils would take the lead on a very elegant tic-tac-toe passing play for Cotter’s first of the night. Along with Cotter on the goal, Stefan Noesen (3A, +2) and Erik Haula (3A, +2) would collect assists, in what was a huge night for the 3rd line of New Jersey. Not only did Cotter finish with the two goals but both Noesen and Haula picked up three assists.

Washington would tie the game 30 seconds into the second period with a goal from Dylan Strome (1G & 1A), but the Devils once again responded with two goals of their own to take the lead; a lead they would never let go of again.

“I thought our guys played hard,” Keefe said after the win. “I liked our response each time we got scored on. It could have been momentum changing or game changing type of moments in the game, especially on the road, but (they) just stayed with it. I thought we did a lot of really good things.”

It would be Tomas Tatar (1G, 1A), his first goal back with the team, to put the Devils back into the lead thanks to a brilliant pass from below the goal line from Noesen to Tatar in the slot who was crashing the net. After having his initial shot saved by Lindgren, Tatar with a diving second effort was able get the puck into the net to give the Devils a 3-2 lead.

Paul Cotter would double their lead with 6:22 left in the second period on a 2-on-1 rush with his new best friend on the ice Stefan Noesen. Cotter would one-time s shot past a sprawling Lindgren to hand Noesen his third assist of the game. “They were all in good spots [to score],” Noesen said on his three-assist night. “It’s pretty easy to make a simple pass like that.”

Washington would make this game close with a Tom Wilson third period goal, but the Devils were able to fortify themselves in the defensive zone the rest of the period. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin (1A, 19:44 T.O.I) would be held to zero shots in his first game of the season.

With eight seconds left on the clock, the Devils finally hit the empty net with Dawson Mercer (1G, 19:55 T.O.I) grabbing his first goal of the season in his 250th career NHL game.

Cotter after the game called the game a “good test”, after getting a hard earned two points against the Capitals. “Stuff like that’s going to happen all year. You’re going to go up, you’re going to go down. And that third goal that they had, I wasn’t too happy with that one with myself. But the boys found a way to kill some penalties and managed to hang on and it shows some pretty good persistence from our team to hold them off.”

With the victory the Devils improve to 3-1 on the season and sit in first place in the Metropolitan division with six points. The Devils are back in action Monday afternoon at the Prudential Center against the undefeated Utah Hockey Club. Puck drop set for 1:00 PM.

Box Score

• Three Stars: 1. P. Cotter 2. E. Haula 3. J. Carlson
• Shots (NJ/WSH): 33/32
• Power Play (NJ/WSH): 0-4/1-3
• Penalty Kill (NJ/WSH): 2-3/4-4

• New Jersey was 32/55 on face-offs (58%).
• Curtis Lazar was 10/14 on face-offs, which marked the 10^th time in Lazar’s career that he won 10, or more, face-offs in a game. Lazar’s career-high for face-offs won in a game is 14 (Feb. 16, 2020, vs TOR).
• The defensive pairing of Brenden Dillon and Dougie Hamilton finished the night with a team-high plus/minus rating of +3.
• Per NHL PR, Cotter is the first Devils player to score three goals after their first four games with the team since Michael Cammalleri in 2014-15.