Devils Falter in Divisional Loss to Capitals

Jesper Bratt nearly extended the lead with a strong drive to the net for a chance from inside the blue paint.

Washington had its first extended zone time in a while, and New Jersey was tagged for an interference penalty. Ryan Leonard got the equalizer at 16:42 with a nice individual effort to fool the Devils’ defense and Allen. Jakob Chychrun and Thompson had the assists.

Meier returned to the ice for New Jersey following the unsuccessful penalty kill.

Washington outshot New Jersey 8-7 in the period.

Period Two

The Capitals grabbed the 2-1 lead just over a minute into the second, courtesy of Ilya Protas’ first goal of the season off a feed from Alex Ovechkin. Vincent Desharnais added a secondary assist.

The Devils got themselves out of position in the defensive zone, and Dylan Strome picked up his first goal of the season at 4:36. Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou had the assists.

Luke Hughes was hauled down but was called for hooking, giving Washington a power play, but the Devils killed it off.

Nonetheless, Washington scored at 11:14 just after the penalty expired, after Johnathan Kovacevic blocked the shot in front of the net, but the puck bounced to Boone Jenner, who lit the lamp. Desharnais and Martin Fehervary had the assists.

New Jersey was outshot 12-7 in a lackluster middle frame.

Period Three

The Devils had a flurry of chances early, but Washington was comfortable sitting back and blocking shots with a three-goal lead.

New Jersey still wasn’t sharp, flubbing passes and giving the Capitals’ defense easy chances to clear the zone.

Dougie Hamilton connected with Bratt for the best chance of the period, but Thompson got across to steer the puck aside.

With just over ten minutes left in regulation, the Devils began generating better opportunities and forcing Thompson to make some big saves.

The Devils were rewarded for the pressure and drew a penalty with just under 8:30 left to play. They generated four shots but no goals with the advantage.

With 1:30 left to play, the Devils got a fourth power play chance, and Meier finally grabbed his first goal of the season from the near circle at 19:41. Gritsyuk and Jesper Boqvist had the assists.

New Jersey outshot Washington 31-25 in the 4-2 loss.

Takeaways

After beating the Rangers 7-1 on Thursday night, this game was an opportunity to solidify the progress the team seemed to have made. They played fast and connected against New York, with crisp passing, control of the neutral zone,  and plenty of pucks on net. Most importantly, however, it was a complete 60-minute effort without any of the lulls in play that had been present beforehand.

Those positive improvements did not carry over to the contest in Washington. While New Jersey did score first, they had a mess of a second period that saw three goals for the Capitals as they took a firm grip on the game.

The defense was poor for much of the frame, leaving Allen out to dry on multiple occasions. Additionally, when they did have the puck, passing wasn’t clean, and Washington was able to pick them off and translate turnovers into offensive chances.

Special teams also continued to struggle. New Jersey converted on just one of their four power-play chances, while the penalty kill allowed one goal on two attempts for Washington.

New Jersey needs consistency within their game. The team showed what it is capable of with a full 60-minute effort of engaged, crisp hockey against the Rangers. They have also shown that they’re prone to lapses in their game, which can’t happen if they want to contend.

Up Next

The Devils face a big test on Tuesday night when the Colorado Avalanche come to the Prudential Center.

The Avalanche are off to a 5-2-1 start, and Nathan MacKinnon has already tallied six goals and ten assists.

Colorado will take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night before traveling to Newark for the second half of their back-to-back.

Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on MSG and MSG2.