Devils come up short in high-scoring affair with Caps | GAME STORY

NEWARK, NJ – What has been the be-all and end-all so often this season didn’t quite work against the Capitals on Saturday evening.

The Devils ran into penalty trouble in the second period and gave up three straight power play goals against Washington in a 6-5 loss.

With both Paul Cotter and Dawson Mercer splitting overlapping penalties, Cotter receiving a double minor for unsportsmanlike conduct and Mercer receiving a double minor for a high stick on Dylan Strome, the Capitals scored two goals, one by Connor McMichael and the other by Jakub Chychrun. The two goals gave the Devils a 2-1 lead and trailed 3-2 before Washington doubled its lead with 12 seconds left in the period when the puck fell from a scrum behind Jake Allen’s net Defender Rasmus Sandin rebounded, who ended the game shooting it past the Devils goalkeeper.

“This is just a rare night for our penalty kill, but obviously a big part of the game,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “It’s 2-1 for us, we have complete control of the puck in the offensive zone and we ended up with a four-minute penalty, that’s the difference in the game.”

“It definitely hurts, we’re very proud of our penalty kill and it probably cost us the game tonight,” Brett Pesce said. “So, just learn from it and we’ve got a big (game) Monday ahead of us. And hopefully we can get back on our feet.”

The Devils opened the third period with a strong response scoring two goals 4:15 into the first period. One was a power play goal from Stefan Noesen and another goal from Jesper Bratt, which ended the game at four.

But the Capitals had even more offense in them and took advantage of several mistakes by the Devils, scoring two goals 20 seconds into the period and taking a 6-4 lead.

Jake Allen took the blame for the loss, pointing out his mistake on the Capitals’ sixth goal.

“It starts with me. I made the mistake in the third period of losing the game for the boys, but I take responsibility for that, but that’s hockey and we move on,” he said. “The puck just slowed me down and the guy there.” I just got ahead of myself. I tried to pass to Dougie but it kind of fell off my stick and next thing you know it’s over.”

However, his coach wouldn’t blame his goalkeeper.

“Without him we would have given up six players in the first half,” Keefe insisted.

Noesen made it a one-goal game with 3:15 left and scored his second power play goal of the game. The Devils elected to bring Jake Allen off the net for a 6-on-4, which led to Noesen’s second goal.

Special teams played a major role Saturday: The Capitals scored three power-play goals on five attempts while New Jersey went two-for-three.