The Washington Capitals got their butts handed to them by the bottom feeding New Jersey Devils. The boys from the Garden State laid a 5-1 smackdown on the Caps to win their first game in DC since December of 2016.

The Caps out-shot the Devils 34 to 22 and out-attempted them at five-on-five 50 to 38.

• Look, this was a bad one. The faster we move on from it, the better. The Caps looked aimless and disjointed for all of the first 40 minutes of this one. They played a good third, but by then the game was already out of hand.
• Jakub Vrana put away his 20th of the season and first on the power play. He was newly promoted to the top man advantage unit so it’s good to see him jump on that opportunity already.
• Nicklas Backstrom picked up an assist on Vrana’s goal. He now has points in eight straight games.

John Carlson picked up a primary assist on Vrana's goal, his 42nd assist of the season, which leads all defensemen and is tied for third among all players in the NHL.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 12, 2020

• Connor McMichael put away his fourth hat trick of the season in the OHL, in only his second game back for London.
• Aliaksei Protas has been back for Prince Albert in the WHL for a little longer, but he also tucked home a goal and added an assist in a loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings last night.

Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Devils

Headline photo: NBC Sports Washington