Johnson’s efforts not quite enough

Thanks to Brent Johnson’s stellar goaltending, the Washington Capitals held a lead into the third period Saturday night.

But the New Jersey Devils continued to pepper him, and they had Martin Brodeur to close the deal. Brodeur made three saves and Zach Parise had the only goal in the shootout as the Devils defeated the Caps 4-3 at Verizon Center.

“We definitely got outworked,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Against a workaholic team like New Jersey, you need to outwork them and then your skill will take over. But when you’re cute - they’ve been playing the same way for 15 years - you’re not going to get the puck in your zone and you’re not going to get good shots.”

With the Caps ahead 2-1, Parise got the Devils even with a power-play goal 10:34 into the final period. Three Caps penalty killers got caught along the wall to the left of Johnson, and Jamie Langenbrunner sent the puck to an open Parise near the post. Parise then slipped a quick shot between the netminder’s legs.

Parise helped give his team the lead 1:08 later. He sent a pass from behind the net out to the left point, and defenseman Andy Greene’s shot deflected off Eric Fehr and past Johnson.

“In the third period, they were buzzing around,” Johnson said. “I’ve got to give credit to Parise - that guy is one shifty player. Even his goal in the shootout, I don’t think the best goalie in his day could have saved that. It was one of the most unbelievable moves I’ve ever seen.”

Alexander Semin scored his second of the night 1:07 after Greene’s goal to knot the score at 3-3. Semin flung the puck toward the net from the right point, and it deflected off Patrick Elias’ leg and Mike Mottau’s shoulder on its way in.

The Caps struck first thanks to a beautiful breakout pass from Sergei Fedorov to Semin. Fedorov sent the puck from the top of the left circle in his own end to Semin in the middle of the ice just beyond the far blue line. Semin skated in alone on Brodeur and registered his fifth goal of the season 5:04 into the opening period.

Semin leads the team with 10 points in five games.

“Not taking anything away, because [Semin] is a great hockey player … right now if this were the baseball analogy, he’s hitting behind Alex [Ovechkin],” Boudreau said. “Alex is getting all the attention from every best pair of defense and every checking line.”

New Jersey tied the game at 1-1 at 12:48 of the first when Petr Vrana, who made his NHL debut, redirected a slap shot from Elias past Johnson.

Mike Green put the Caps back in front with a five-on-three tally at 12:18 of the second period. Alex Ovechkin flubbed a one-timer from the right point, but Brooks Laich corralled it in the slot and pushed a pass to his right to Green for his fourth goal of the season, all with the man advantage.

Green leads all NHL defensemen with four goals and is tied with St. Louis’ Keith Tkachuk for the most power-play goals.

The lead could have increased if not for Brodeur’s spectacular work. He made several great saves in the second period, including a sprawling stop on Nicklas Backstrom and a kick save on a rebound attempt from David Steckel.

“He’s got the most unorthodox goalie stance, and it is definitely tough to penetrate when he’s sharp,” Johnson said.

Johnson finished the night with 34 saves, including three big saves with his team short-handed in the second period

“I think [Johnson] made better saves than [Brodeur] did,” Boudreau said. “He deserved a better fate.”

Note- Chris Bourque, who made his season debut, was demoted to Hershey after the game. Viktor Kozlov missed his second straight contest with a left knee injury but will accompany the team on a three-game road trip that starts Tuesday in Calgary. Boudreau is not sure if he will play during the trip.