Capitals defeat Devils, 6-5, take first place in Metropolitan Division

Photo: Capitals

The Washington Capitals defeated the New Jersey Devils 6-5 on Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The win improves the Capitals’ season record to 17-6-1 (35 points) and moves Washington into first place in the Metropolitan Division.

The Capitals opened the scoring early in the first frame with a shot from the slot Andrew Mangiapanewho followed up his first blocked shot to equalize. The Devils tied the game four and a half minutes later Nico HischierSo the score was 1:1 at the first break.

The Devils took the lead for the first time of the night thanks to a deflected shot Justin Dowling early in the middle frame. Capitalizing on a double-minor for high sticks midway through the middle stanza, the Capitals cashed in with goals from Connor McMichael And Jacob Chychrun for a 3-2 lead. Rasmus Sandin scored a power play goal in the final minute of the game to give the Capitals a 4-2 lead at the second intermission.

The Devils cut the Capitals’ lead to a single goal early in the final frame with a power play goal Stefan Noesen and tied it with a tally just 2:12 later in the quarter Jesper Bratt. The Capitals regained the lead with a goal late in the third period Taylor Radysh and 10 seconds later the score was 6:4 Pierre Luc Dubois. The Devils added a late goal Stefan Noesen. That would be the finale.

ALIGN

Charlie Lindgren (6-5-0, 2.76 GAA, .900 SV%) gave the visiting Capitals their start between the pipes. Jake Allen (5-2-1, 2.26 GAA, 0.921 SV%) was the Devils’ starting goalkeeper. The Capitals’ starting forward and defensive pairings:

Connor McMichael – Dylan Strome – Tom Wilson
Aliaksei Protas – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Taylor Raddysh
Hendrix Lapierre – Lars Eller – Andrew Mangiapane
Brandon Duhaime – Nic Dowd – Ivan Miroshnichenko

Martin Fehervary – John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin – Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun – Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Charlie Lindgren
Logan Thompson

Scratched: Jakub Vrana, Dylan McIlrath and Alexander Alexeyev.

Injured: Alex Ovechkin (lower body), Sonny Milano (upper body), Nicklas Backstrom (hips, LTIR) and TJ Oshie (back, LTIR).

1. PERIOD

The Capitals scored first early in the first period with a shot from the slot Andrew Mangiapane (6) at 6:19 of the opening verse. Hendrix Lapierre (6) had the main helper and played a nice pass in the middle to Mangiapane. John Carlson (14) had the second assist.

To do this, I turned on the burners pic.twitter.com/NKHj1qqzNW

– Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 1, 2024

The Devils tied the game four and a half minutes later Nico Hischier (15) at 10:53. L. Hughes (6) and B. Pesce (1) had the helpers.

This is not a planned tweet, just doing cap stuff. pic.twitter.com/8X0fVQ7yeq

– New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 1, 2024

At the first break it remained 1:1. The Capitals led 20-7 on five-on-five shot attempts and expected goals-againsts of 1.59 to 0.33.

2. PERIOD

The Devils took the lead for the first time of the night thanks to a deflected shot Justin Dowling (2) at 2:38 of the middle image. B. Pesce (2) had the helper.

This Justin: the puck. pic.twitter.com/Y9ej5KWhqS

– New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 1, 2024

The Capitals took advantage of a double minor for high sticks midway through the middle stanza, and the Capitals cashed in. Connor McMichael (14) broke the ball in a 4-on-3 game to make it 2-2 at 9:49. Pierre-Luc Dubois (13) and John Carlson (15) provided the assists.

The opportunity presents itself and Mikey takes advantage of it#ALLCAPS | @BlueHalo pic.twitter.com/XN9gXafO6j

– Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 1, 2024

The Capitals then regained the lead 1:07 later on a power play tally Jacob Chychrun (8) at 10:56. Lars Eller (6) and Rasmus Sandin (9) had the helpers.

My goodness, Chych#ALLCAPS | @BlueHalo pic.twitter.com/CSDCAfcJ6s

– Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 1, 2024

The Capitals extended their lead to 4-2 with a power play goal in the final minute of the game Rasmus Sandin (4). Ivan Miroshnichenko (2) had the first assist.

#ALLCAPS 4-2. RASMUS SANDIN. ELITE. pic.twitter.com/HMfxB5Awve

— x – Capitals Replays 🍁 (@capsreplays) December 1, 2024

The Capitals maintained a 4-2 lead before the second intermission. The Capitals led in five-on-five shot attempts, 36-26, high-danger chances, 8-3 and expected goals, 1.o5 to 0.o6 after two periods.

3. PERIOD

The Devils cut the Capitals’ lead to a single goal early in the final frame with a power play goal Stefan Noesen at 2:03. The assists were credited to Jack Hughes (19) and Jesper Bratt (20).

Stef from his office. #NJDevils | @Mikes_Amazing pic.twitter.com/jG6nUTKpUn

– New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 1, 2024

The Devils tied it with a tally Jesper Bratt (11) just 2:12 later in the period. O. Palat (4) and J. Hughes (20) had the helpers.

PB&J always makes you sweat. pic.twitter.com/93XlOOyW9O

– New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 1, 2024

The Capitals regained the lead with a goal late in the third period Taylor Radysh at 1:54 p.m. Martin Fehervary (5) and John Carlson (16) had the helpers.

We Raddy needed that pic.twitter.com/qQpvvH1YB9

– Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 1, 2024

The Capitals scored 10 seconds later for a score of 6-4 Pierre Luc Dubois (3). A. Protas (13), T. Raddysh (7) had the assists.

𝓐 𝓕𝓔𝓦 𝓜𝓞𝓜𝓔𝓝𝓣𝓢 𝓛𝓐𝓣𝓔𝓡… pic.twitter.com/c3LiUC4b1i

– Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 1, 2024

The Devils went 6-on-5 with no goals to make the score 6-5 Stefan Noesen at 4:35 p.m., but that would be all as the Capitals held on for the 6-5 win.

• Andrew Mangiapane scored his sixth goal of the season to give Washington a 1-0 lead. Mangiapane has scored two goals in his last three games.
• Hendrix Lapierre He scored the first assist on Mangiapane’s opening goal, marking his 20th assist in his career. Lapierre has four assists in his last five games since Nov. 23 against New Jersey.
• John Carlson was credited with the second assist for Mangiapane’s goal, extending his point streak to three games (1g-2a-3p). With this assist, Carlson tied with Rob Blake (537) for the 30th most assists by a defenseman in NHL history.
• Connor McMichael scored his 14th goal of the season on the power play and tied the game at 2-2. McMichael has now scored in three straight games against New Jersey and has five points (3g, 2a) in four games against the Devils this season.
• Jacob Chychrun scored his eighth goal of the season on the power play to give the Capitals a 3-2 lead and extend his point streak to four games (3g-4a-7p). Chychrun, who scored his third career overtime goal yesterday, has scored three goals in his last four games.
• Rasmus Sandin scored his fourth goal of the season to extend Washington’s lead to 4-2 with 11 seconds left in the second period. With a goal and an assist tonight, Sandin is now one point shy of 100 career points (20g-79a-99p in 251 GP).
• Ivan Miroshnichenko scored the first assist on Sandin’s goal of the second period. Miroshnichenko has recorded an assist in consecutive games and has three points (1g, 2a) in five games with Washington this season.
• The Capitals scored three power play goals in the second period against New Jersey tonight. It is the first time since November 7, 2022 against Edmonton (3 PPG in P2) that Washington has scored three power play goals in one period.
• Taylor Radysh scores his fourth goal of the season to give Washington a 5-4 lead. With a goal and an assist in the third period, Raddysh recorded his first multi-point game as a Capital and the 15th of his career.
• Pierre Luc Dubois scored his third goal of the season and extended Washington’s lead to 6-4. Dubois has nine points (2g, 7a) in his last 11 games since November 9th.
• John Carlson scored his third assist of the game on Raddysh’s go-ahead shot. It is Carlson’s 13th career game with three or more assists and his first since Dec. 21, 2023 against Columbus.
• The Capitals improve to 4-1-0 for the second consecutive game this season.
• The Capitals have scored 13 power play goals on 29 opportunities (44.8%) in their last 11 games since November 9, including at least one power play goal in eight of their last nine games.