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Fresh, young Devils beat tired, old Caps 6-3

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Caps vs Devils

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The unrested Washington Capitals hosted the haven’t-played-since-last-year New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.

Nico Hischier scored first, a second try on New Jersey’s rush. Luke Hughes’s slapshot on the power play made it 2-0, but Connor McMichael reduced the lead by half with a beautiful snipe.

In the second period, Dawson Mercer got a one-timer after some strong forechecking. The Caps rallied from there, with Evgeny Kuznetsov beating Nico Daws five-hole and then John Carlson scoring on a slapshot on the power-play from far out. That tie did not last long; Michael McLeod ran up on Hunter Shepard to restore New Jersey’s lead.

In the third, Dawson Mercer got a great pass from Erik Haula to make it 5-3. McLeod fought from the paint to make it six.

Caps lose.

  • This was the hardest game on Capitals’ schedule. The Devils were very rested, the Caps were very not, and the Devils – even if they’re banged up and need a goalie – are still a difficult team to play against. That was my justification for saying this was a schedule loss, and that was my strategy to feel good about anything positive that happened inside it.
  • Such as: Connor McMichael with a terrific shot on the power play. McMichael had actually been kinda quiet over the past couple weeks. Glad he’s on the scoreboard again in addition to simply being the center on the team’s best line.
  • (How about that second power play unit?)
  • That Michael McLeod goal at the end of the second period was deflating. The Capitals were struggling to control the puck all period, but they got two big goals anyway. And then McLeod scores the exact kind of the goal the Caps can’t seem to score lately at the exact worse time to devastate the Caps’ mental.

  • Irrepressible rogue Evgeny Kuznetsov got his first point since December 9. It was a perfect shot on a bouncing puck served quickly by Alex Ovechkin. When Spencer Carbery defied reason to put Ovechkin with Kuznetsov, the hope we all shared was that this the way to unlock Kuznetsov’s scoring. We got we all wanted: Ovechkin sending elite passes to Kuznetsov.
  • The ice at Capital One Arena has never been held in high regard; that’s its charm. But when it sloughed off a couple of inches along the boards in the second period, the bit felt a little less funny. Someone could get really hurt there.

  • Max Pacioretty made his debut as a Washington Capital, playing in his first NHL game in nearly one year. Patches was on an odd line – with Strome and Phillips – and didn’t get much ice time. He committed one penalty, he was on the ice for one Devils goal, and he didn’t generate any substantial offense aside from one miss. That’s okay. It’s the start of the process.
  • Hunter Shepard had a bad night. The final McLeod goal told the story for me: Sandin and Bear both try to cut off the play but lose the puck into the slot, where Kuznetsov skips going after the puck and instead brains a guy, and then Wilson can’t get a stick on it, and Shepard can’t make the save. A cascade of mistakes with the goalie’s last and therefore most prominent, I guess.

There never was much hope. Just a fool’s hope. That’s what Gandalf said about Frodo and Sam crossing Cirith Ungol unknowing they were headed into Shelob’s lair. That’s what this game was for the Caps, except without any eagles of Manwe to save the day.

It was a tough night. The Capitals got absolutely pummeled in attempts, as Chris will show tomorrow morning, but they generated some respectable chances in the second period when they did have the puck. Some okay highlights. But it got away from them in the third. Like, way far away.

Wild thing is the Caps only have one day off and then they host the Hurricanes, who are better than the Devils and have only modestly better goaltending. This is the toughest stretch of the whole season for the Caps. They’re going to need to steal more games like they did in Pittsburgh.

Headline photo: Kurly from Crashers

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