In New Jersey at the Prudential Center on Saturday, October 19th, the Devils took on the Capitals and unfortunately lost in a close game. The Capitals secured a 6-5 overtime victory, extending their win streak to three games after losing their first game of the season, which had been against the New Jersey Devils. Nico Hischier scored two goals and Timo Meier recorded three assists. Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal of the season and Dylan Strome recorded a goal and two assists to help Washington defeat the Devils. On Tuesday, October 22nd, the Devils will be taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning in New Jersey.
New Jersey Devils Lineup:
Meier – Hischier – Mercer
Cotter – Hughes – Bratt
Tatar – Haula – Noesen
Palat – Lazar – Bastian
Dillon – Hamilton
Siegenthaler – Kovacevic
Casey – Nemec
Markstrom
Allen
Washington Capitals Lineup:
Protas – Strome – Ovechkin
McMichael – Dubois – Wilson
Vrana – Lapierre – Mangiapane
Duhaime – Dowd – Raddysh
Chychrun – Carlson
Fehervary – McIlrath
Sandin – van Riemsdyk
Thompson
Lindgren
Getting things started for New Jersey, Erik Haula gave the Devils a 1-0 lead early into the first period at 15:15 from along the left-wing boards when he fired a wrister past Logan Thompson. Tom Wilson tied it 1-1 not long after Haula’s game-opening goal at 13:59 from the left face-off circle past Jacob Markstrom’s glove… this extended his season-opening goal streak to four games (five goals) and recorded an assist. At 9:46, Connor McMichael gave Washington their first lead of the game at the right of the net on a rebound. Alex Ovechkin pushed it to 3-1 with 5:43 on the clock on a deflection from the slot, scoring his first goal of the season.
Nico Hischier scored twice in only 10 seconds to tie it to 3-3 in the opening 44 seconds of the middle frame. The first goal came off a pass from Stef Noesen, sending it in past Logan Thompson from the slot… the second goal came from the bottom of the left face-off circle on a wrist shot. At 10:46, Andrew Mangiapane took the lead back for the Capitals on a shot at the right post, Dylan Strome followed after at 7:27 to make it a 5-3 lead for Washington from the slot on a tip-in. Trevor van Riemsdyk recorded the primary assist on both the fourth and fifth goals for the Capitals, which marks his fifth career multi-assist game and his first since March 11 of 2023 against the New York Islanders.
Dawson Mercer pulled the Devils within 5-4 early in the third period at 16:21 off a wrist shot from the right face-off circle. On the power play at 7:32, Dougie Hamilton tied it 5-5 with a one-timer from the high slot.
With 1:00 remaining on the clock in overtime, Tom Wilson struck his second of the night when he fired it home past Jacob Markstrom for a 6-5 win. He sent a snap shot past Markstrom from the left face-off circle after skating down the left wing for the fourth overtime goal of his career.
Nico Hischier on the overtime loss and his two goals at the beginning of the second period: “We didn’t deserve to win that game, but obviously, good that we fought back and got a point out of it. On a competitive level, it’s not acceptable,” – “Hopefully we show a reaction after the first period we played here, and we talked in here about what we want to do. You could see it the first couple of minutes, but after that we lost it again – first, great forecheck… finds me in the slot, and second goal, also from the forecheck. I think that’s something we can take from it. If you forecheck hard, teams are going to turn it over and we can score goals.”
Dougie Hamilton on the 6-5 loss and Nico’s two goals: “I think we had spurts of good, and not good for most of the games. We haven’t been good at home really other than the one game. It’s something we’re trying to figure out,” – “It was unreal, he played unreal tonight. He pretty much carried us for the whole comeback.”
Notes:
– Stefan Noesen recorded two assists, and Jacob Markstrom made a total of 31 saves for the Devils.
– Brenden Dillon played his 900th NHL career game. He had three hits, two shots on goal, and two blocked shots in 25:24.
– Nico Hischier’s two goals in 10 seconds are the fastest two goals by the same player in Kansas City Scouts, Colorado Rockies, and New Jersey Devils history; the previous mark of 24 seconds had been set by Wilf Paiement for the Rockies against the Cleveland Barons in 1977 on November 19th. His two goals also were the fastest to start a period in franchise history.
