Washington Capitals Fail To Play Full Sixty Minutes In 7-4 Loss To New Jersey

The Washington Capitals came out firing in the second of back-to-back games against the New Jersey Devils, but faded away down the stretch in a 7-4 loss.

Despite dominating in faceoffs, getting shots on target early and putting four goals past Connor Hellebuyck, the Capitals lost their momentum as the game progressed and allowed the Devils to escape Capital One Arena with a victory.

"I mean, definitely frustrating," forward Boone Jenner said of the loss. "We have leads in both games, but yeah, I think we're just giving up too much. We're giving them too many good looks and they obviously get some bounces tonight, and we weren't able to get get one or two there in the third to get us back into it."

Washington entered Saturday’s matchup looking to avenge a road loss to New Jersey just two days prior, a game in which they produced a better effort but fell short.

The Capitals imposed themselves early on despite the Devils getting early chances, winning five of the first six faceoffs before Pierre-Luc Dubois opened the scoring off a rebound in front less than six minutes into the action.

Both teams traded jabs throughout the first period with Ryan Leonard and Anthony Beauviller putting chances past Connor Hellebuyck and the Devils slotting two goals on passes across the offensive zone to beat Charlie Lindgren, but it was Washington taking a 3-2 lead into the first intermission.

Cole Hutson continued to shine for Washington, leading all skaters through 20 minutes with two points after assisting on the Capitals’ second and third goals of the night.

Washington went on a man advantage early in the second frame, but found itself on the backfoot with New Jersey creating chances. Lindgren came up big after a shot rang off the post, sliding across with his arms stretched to avoid allowing a shorthanded tally, igniting the Capital One Arena crowd.

A shot by Lenni Hameenaho off Lindgren’s shoulder caused a scramble and fell right in front for Jesper Boqvist to slot home, evening up the contest midway through the second period.

New Jersey took its first lead of the game with 3:42 remaining in the second period as a pass across the crease from Arseny Gritsyuk bounced off Timo Meier and went in after just 14 seconds of powerplay time for the Devils.

The Capitals had fallen behind in shots, 24-23, and hits, 13-11, as New Jersey worked to take control in the middle frame.

"We do a lot of good things, but we just got to continue to work with our group, develop our young players and get the whole team on the same page with what a winning game looks like for 60 minutes," Carbery said.

Washington went on another power play in the early moments of the third period, but a counter-attack by New Jersey resulted in a two-on-one where Connor Brown assisted Nico Hischier in front of Lindgren.

Ilya Protas quickly answered on the power play less than 30 seconds later to stop the bleeding and bring Washington back within a goal.

New Jersey answered back with Evan Rodrigues throwing a puck from the side board at Lindgren, who allowed a far-side rebound that deflected off defenseman Timothy Liljegren and found the back of the net, extending the deficit to two goals.

Both teams got scrappy in the final 10 minutes, but it would be Rodrigues to put home the final goal on an empty net.

"I mean, we never gave up till the end," forward Pierre-Luc Dubois said. "We pressured them, thought we were playing well... It's not 60 minutes of we're not playing well. It's just little key moments that lead to something bigger."

Washington heads back on the road to face the Tampa Bay Lightning Tuesday night at 7 p.m. ET.