The Capitals fell to the Devils 5-3 to drop their third consecutive home opener. Here are all the takeaways.
WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals season started filled with hope and excitement, as an extensive pregame ceremony featuring over 70 alumni and a 1-0 lead got Capital One Arena going. Then, the New Jersey Devils responded, and things dropped off for D.C.
John Carlson and Dylan Strome had multi-point outings and Tom Wilson also scored, but ultimately, poor reads, mistakes and an injury for Matt Roy sunk Washington in an eventual 5-3 loss.
Here are the takeaways from the defeat as the Capitals drop their third consecutive home opener.
Third line struggles, poor coverage in front of Charlie Lindgren sinks Capitals
After jumping out to a 1-0 lead early thanks to a John Carlson power-play goal, Washington would find themselves trailing the Devils after 20 with the third line struggling and coverage in front of Charlie Lindgren lackluster to say the least.
Seamus Casey was left alone at point position and got all the time and space he needed to unleash a rocket past Lindgren to even the score, and Paul Cotter would finish a picture-perfect passing play soonafter to make it a 2-1 game going into the second.
Though Dylan Strome evened the score just 32 seconds into the middle frame, Tomas Tatar responded shortly after, going hard to the net and burying a rebound while falling to make it 3-2.
The third line of Sonny Milano, Hendrix Lapierre and Aliaksei Protas was on the ice for the first three goals against, as miscommunication and lapses led to missed coverage and plenty of opportunity, which New Jersey capitalized on.
Cotter would score again in the second to push the Devils to a two-goal lead, as a neutral zone turnover from Pierre-Luc Dubois led to a 2-on-1 and an easy tally.
Lindgren did what he could and came up big with quite a few saves, including a couple on breakaways. He finished the night with 21 saves on 25 shots.
The third line appeared to be benched, with Milano logging just 5:44 and Lapierre skating just 7:45. Protas got more ice time, but was active on the penalty kill.
Tom Wilson pulls Capitals within one as Ovechkin & Dubois also find scoresheet, but rally not enough
With their team trailing by two and needing a goal, the second line got to work with an impressive forecheck, and it led to an impressive tally from Tom Wilson to pull his team within one.
Connor McMichael and Pierre-Luc Dubois were aggressive on the forecheck, and McMichael ultimately won a board battle for the puck and found Wilson in the slot on a nice no-look pass to make it a 4-3 game.
From there, Washington found some life and was able to make a push late, but it wasn't enough as D.C. couldn't find twine in the final minutes as Dawson Mercer put the final nail in the coffin with an empty-netter.
Alex Ovechkin and Pierre-Luc Dubois also got on the scoresheet, with each recording an assist. It marked Ovechkin's first point of the year and Dubois' first point with his new team.
Capitals lose Matt Roy to injury
The Capitals were left with five defensemen in their season opener, as Matt Roy left Saturday's contest with a lower-body injury early in the second period.
It's unclear what the injury was or the severity of it, but he did not return to play and skated just 8:39 in his Capitals debut and was a minus-2 while registering two shots.
Penalty kill shines, power play needs improvement
One area that wasn't an issue for Washington was on the penalty kill, as D.C. went 4-for-4 and generated quite a few shorthanded chances against New Jersey. Puck possession was key, too, as the Capitals were able to take good care of the puck, draw a penalty and ultimately waste time.
However, the power play could use some work, as after the first PPG of the night from Carlson, the Capitals struggled to get much going on the man advantage.