Better effort doesn't yield better results for Capitals

The Washington Capitals played one of the worst periods of the season and won 3-2 in Ottawa on Tuesday. Two nights later, they played a much better overall game but ended up on the wrong side of the ledger in a 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils.

Washington seemed like they were in good shape in the second period, up 2-1 and recovering from a slow start to the contest. But a deflection and a long drive that ended up in the back of the cage ended up being the difference as the Caps found themselves losing the second game of the two-game road trip.

The NHL doesn’t always reward the level of play from night to night, and after an inconsistent effort two nights ago got 2 points, a better effort yielded none.

"We're confident in our group," Tom Wilson said afterwards. "I think we clean a few things up. You know, they're a good hockey team right now. They're one of the hottest teams in the league. ... They're built well and we were going toe-to-toe with them and did a lot of good things, and we'll learn from it and keep moving forward and keep meshing as a group and hopefully take the next one."

"I thought our team played pretty well for the most part," Cole Hutson said. "Just sucks to didn't go our way. So, yeah, just scrap it and move on to the next."

The Capitals were sluggish out of the gate early like they were in the middle frame in Ottawa, down 8-1 in shots early aftert he Devils opened the scoring just 2:20 into the contest. With Hutson in the box, with Evan Rodrigues took a pass and beat Logan Thompson just under the corner of the net.

Unlike Tuesday, the Capitals picked up the offense after a slow stretch, and Ryan Leonard was able to tie the score with 5:50 left in the period, poking the puck past Connor Hellebucyk for his 6th of the year.

Washington opened the second strong, as Pierre-Luc Dubois took an Aliaksei Protas feed and held and fired past Hellebucyk for the first lead of the night for the Capitals 2:11 into the period.

However, a former Capital helped tied the game back up, as Brenden Dillon's shot was redirected by Lenni Hameenaho past Thompson just before the halfway mark of the frame on a strange deflection.

New Jersey took the lead with 13:33 left to play as Vladislav Kolyachonok's shot from the point just snuck through Thompson's pads and over the line to make the score 3-2.

"We end up cracking after a great penalty kill, we grab momentum, and then we end up cracking," Spencer Carbery said afterwards. "And when you talk about margins in the night, the games, and how they're decided, especially when consistently night to night, if you talk about two good teams, the margins are like this, right? So it's one play here, one play there, one missed icing, whatever it might be. 


"And tonight, we're on the wrong end of it, and we crack."

That goal that barely got in the cage proved to be a large one, as while the Capitals pushed down the stretch, they couldn't ding Hellebucyk, who moved to 6-0-0 since joining the Devils.

The Devils iced the game with two late goals, as Stefen Noesen doubled the Devils lead with 2:53 to play, then Jack Hughes added an empty-netter for the 5-2 final.

“I thought two solid periods, and, we played pretty well in the third, and then that face off goal was kind of lucky … but it happens,” Leonard said. “I don't know, then we try to chase the game a little bit, and then they get the breakway. So, it's unfortunate.”

Hutson, who was beaten on the Noesen goal, was self-critical after the game.

"I'm just not playing well enough," he said. "Simple as that. I can make some plays offensively, but it doesn't matter when you're here. making mistakes, defensively, constantly. So, gotta be a little bit better."

Carbery said it was part of the process for a young skater.

"Young players like Cole, that's just part of learning to play in the National Hockey League, especially as a defenseman that's spent no time in the American League, so there's gonna be great nights, and there's gonna be not so great nights," Carbery said of his young blueliner. "It's about him learning and continuing to develop, and that's when he's done a tremendous [job]."

So after a strange game in Ottawa, the Capitals couldn't get the breaks the needed in New Jersey, and will get a second crack at the Devils Saturday.

"I think we're figuring out our identity right now," Wilson said. "I think we're figuring out, you know, Ottawa brought the game to the trenches. We were kind of caught off guard once we adjusted to that. We were right there and right in the game.

"Tonight's a completely different style. It's run-and-gun, high skill. So I think we just gotta be a little bit more consistent with our play, figure out what type of team we're gonna be. You know, we're versatile. We can play different styles, but coming into a game like tonight, we gotta just be a little bit better and more consistent and we'll be all right."

Washington drops to 10-7-0 and 3-3-0 in the road white uniforms.

The Capitals return home for a one-game homestand against the same Devils Saturday. Washington beat New Jersey 4-2 at Capital One Arena in the first meeting between the two last month, and the teams wrap up the season series back at Prudential Center on January 24 with Alex Ovechkin's last regular-season game in the Garden State.