The Washington Capitals defeated the New Jersey Devils to earn their fourth win in a row, but damn, it was a close one.
In the first period, Andrew Mangiapane crashed the net to put the Caps up early. Nico Hischier got the last touch on a shot by Luke Hughes to tie it up, and that was all we got in the first period. Don’t worry. The goals are coming.
Second periods have been rough for the Caps recently, and this looked like it would be more of the same when Justin Dowling got a deflection through a lot of traffic. But the Caps answered with three goals. Connor McMichael scored during a four-on-three power play, finishing a give-and-go sequence with Pierre-Luc Dubois. Jakob Chychrun put the Caps up less than a minute later with a goal that is apparently now his signature. Rasmus Sandin snuck in one more goal by winning a puck battle below the goal line and firing a fast shot.
Early in the third, Stefan Noesen made it a one-goal game with a tap-in while Tom Wilson was in the penalty box. Scant minutes later we were tied as Jesper Bratt scored after a failed clear/turnover by Aliaksei Protas. With six minutes left, Taylor Raddysh caught a pass from Martin Fehervary and sunk it. Pierre-Luc Dubois punished Jake Allen for leaving the net ten seconds later. Noesen made it a one-goal game again with three minutes left, but the Caps held on.
Caps win 6-5!
But first – nothing can stop us toniiiiiight.
- The season series with the New Jersey Devils ends as a split: two wins, two losses. I think they’re a good-to-great team. I hope we see them again – in, like, mid June.
- Like usual, the Capitals dominated the opening period, outshooting the similarly unrested Devils 21 to 11 (attempts, all situations). While second periods have been difficult lately, the Caps handled this one okay, not quite driving play but at least outscoring the Devils three to one in the middle frame.
- Really, they just shifted all the poor play twenty minutes backwards. The third period was a slog.
- Seems like Jakob Chychrun has a signature shot. It’s a strong wrister from near the slot, around the tops of the circles. Just like his game-winner yesterday. It looks like this:
Chychrun been ripping the hell out of the puck lately pic.twitter.com/ETUdJ0Ozls
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) December 1, 2024
- And it sure seems like he likes it there.
okay let's just keep feeding him the puck there until it stops workingfrom @hockeyviz.com
— Peter Hassett (@peterhassett.net) 2024-12-01T01:37:35.863Z
- The Caps power play earned three notches tonight. They’ve converted eight times in the last five games. I’m not saying Alex Ovechkin was the problem; it’s just that the pucks are really eager to hit the net lately.
- If Charlie Lindgren was hoping to start his redemption tonight, he’ll have to wait a bit longer. This one will look bad from any perspective: expected goals or save percentage. But I don’t think he was particularly bad considering four of those five goals were from basically in the paint.
- Chris has been complaining about how the Caps have made Devils goalie Jake Allen look way better than he deserves lately. Allen didn’t look too glorious here, which I hope cheers Chris up.
- For the second time this week, Dylan Strome got hit in the face by a stick. I don’t know if he lost teeth again, but he certainly bled. I hope he’s comforted in knowing the Caps scored each time he gets disfigured.
- I was not in love with these lines, except for Dowd and Duhaime and anyone (Ivan Miroshnichenko tonight). I find it curious how Taylor Raddysh is the guy who keeps getting the short-term promotions, but the guy worked his tail off to score his go-ahead goal, so it must have been the right decision by Spencer Carbery.
- Nic Dowd got his 11th minor penalty. That’s the fourth most among all NHL forwards.
An understated green plaid to invoke the Christmas spirit #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/0DGKI8pnKM
— RMNB (@rmnb) November 30, 2024
That was an agonizing finish to a game that earlier had felt very much in control. I’ll chalk that up to a motivated Devils team and not the Caps nearly blowing it. I’m gracious like that.
Two days off and then a quick home game against San Jose before hitting the road for the classic Canadian tour: Toronto, Montreal, and Columbus. In the meantime, let’s make tomorrow a Snapshot Sunday, maybe in the afternoon.
