In a weekend matinee at Capital One Arena Saturday, the New Jersey Devils (4-4-0, 4th Metropolitan) fell to the Washington Capitals (5-3-0, 3rd Metropolitan) 4-2. The Devils had the Capitals on their heels at points, but a dominant second period combined with a strong effort from Logan Thompson propelled Washington to victory.

Match Summary

First Period

The Devils took the early momentum in the first period with some strong offensive shifts. Their efforts yielded a pair of Washington penalties within the first 10 minutes of the game.

New Jersey didn’t capitalize on their first power play, but they did on their second. Just as time expired on the second man advantage, Arseny Gritsyuk put the puck on net from an odd angle, but it caught a lucky deflection off a Capital defender and bounced in to give the Devils an early lead.

The Capitals responded well after the goal, playing the Devils tight to prevent the game from getting out of hand. They got their first power play of the night when Brett Pesce got called for interference.

Though the Capitals have struggled on the power play so far this season, they flashed their trademark deadliness on the man advantage by capitalizing on this one. Ryan Leonard scored for the Capitals, single-handedly cutting through the Devils’ penalty killers, and executing a nasty deke to fool Jake Allen and tie the game. It was a sour note on what was otherwise a well-played period by the Devils.

Second Period

That sour note turned into a disastrous second period for New Jersey. The Capitals put on a show with their puck movement early in the period. Ilya Protas scored the first of three Washington goals in the second period, with Protas scoring on a catch-and-release off a perfect pass from Alex Ovechkin. 

Minutes later, the Capitals, buzzing in the offensive zone, executed a well-designed passing play to get Dylan Strome the puck with nobody covering him in the slot. He didn’t miss the opportunity, and all of a sudden the Capitals had a two-goal lead.

Washington didn’t just beat the Devils with their puck movement. Later in the period, Martin Fehervary threw the puck on goal all the way from the blue line, and Boone Jenner found the rebound right near the crease and buried it to give Washington a 4-1 lead. The Capitals kept their boot on the Devils’ neck throughout the period, even making breaking out and getting offensive chances difficult. They did a great job of controlling the middle of their ice using their size advantage, limiting the Devils’ playmaking ability. It was all New Jersey could do to escape the second period with a three-goal deficit.

Third Period

The Devils played a much better third period, but couldn’t overcome the Capitals’ three-goal lead. New Jersey took the momentum with three solid shifts in the offensive zone, with Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes each almost scoring. While the Capitals’ skaters had no answer for the resurgent Devils, Logan Thompson took over the game for his team, stoning New Jersey at every turn. He made more than his fair share of high-danger saves, but was also positionally-sound, resulting in easy saves on good shots by the Devils. 

Timo Meier finally scored the Devils’ second goal of the day late in the third period on a power play, but it was too little, too late for New Jersey. A strong third period couldn’t make up for a catastrophic second.

Results

Saturday’s game was another case of the Devils showing flashes of strong play, but not being able to play 60 minutes of clean hockey. They controlled most of the possession and pace in the first and third periods, but the Capitals bullied their way to three goals in the second period. Now, the Devils are right back to .500, and they’ll need to find a way to get a win streak going next time out.

Game Notes

• After scoring 12 goals in their previous two games, the Devils fell back to Earth, scoring 2.64 goals below expected against Washington. Logan Thompson certainly played a role in that with his .935 save percentage, but the Capitals’ size and defensive structure was the real factor. They did a great job of clogging up the middle of the ice in all three zones, preventing the Devils from moving up the ice and removing shooting and passing lanes when they did. Washington finished with 22 blocked shots, compared to just eight for New Jersey.
• The Capitals also showed strong playmaking ability, especially in the second period. The Protas and Strome goals were key examples of this, with both goals resulting from well-executed passing plays despite no clear numbers advantage for Washington. The result of this was that, even though Washington finished with fewer scoring chances than the Devils overall, they made the ones they had count.

Up Next

The Devils will look to get back in the win column against Colorado on Tuesday.