Two days before Christmas, the Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils haven't scored any presents yet. Or goals.
The Caps and Devils are scoreless after 20 minutes at Prudential Center.
The Devils outshot the Caps 9-6 in the first period and Michal Neuvirth stopped all nine of them as he single-handedly kept his team in the game. None of Washington's six shots came on its two power play opportunities; the Devils have allowed only two power play goals at home this season. New Jersey has the league's best penalty-killing unit with a 92.6% success rate entering the game.
The Caps, meanwhile, killed off a penalty of their own when Alexander Semin interfered with Mattias Tedenby early in the period. It was Semin's team-leading 20th minor penalty of the season.