Jack Hughes (two goals, three assists) and Jesper Bratt (one goal, four assists) each had five points to help the New Jersey Devils defeat the Capitals by a 7-3 count on Thursday night at Prudential Center in Newark. The loss halted the Caps’ winning streak at three games, and more importantly, it prevented them from gaining ground in the chase for Eastern Conference playoff berths while whittling their remaining runway down to just half a dozen remaining games.
Washington was able to rally back quickly from an early 2-0 deficit, but when the Devils re-established that two-goal cushion in the second period, the Caps weren’t able to stop the Hughes/Bratt train. The dynamic duo had a hand in each of New Jersey’s last five goals of the game.
“I thought we were still fighting it and hanging on even at that point in the first period,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “Just their speed, and obviously we didn't have an answer for [Hughes] and [Bratt] tonight, so that's a huge part of the game. And anytime they hopped over the boards, it just felt like we could not prevent them from entering the zone, getting to a full [offensive] zone sequence for 30-40 seconds, that even when it didn't amount to a goal, it grabbed a lot of momentum for their group, and we were defending and having to waste a lot of energy there, and so that that took a lot out of us.
“And you’ve got to give them credit; Jack Hughes is a hell of a player. Jesper Bratt is a hell of a player. So, when they have nights like tonight, they make it really challenging. You have to be at your utmost best on games where they play like that, and we just didn't have an answer for it.”
Coming off three straight games of high-event hockey – all of them Washington victories – the Caps and Devils stayed on theme Thursday night in New Jersey. Four goals were scored and a penalty was whistled in the first 10 minutes of the contest.
After New Jersey rolled out to and early 2-0 lead on a Cody Glass rush goal at 5:22 and a Dawson Mercer second effort strike at 7:37, the Caps climbed back into it with a pair of quick goals of their own, the second one coming on the power play.
Dylan Strome missed the net on a breakaway attempt early in the game when it was still scoreless, but the Caps made good on their net odd man opportunity, less than a minute after the Mercer marker.
From up near the Washington blueline, Tom Wilson swatted the puck out to neutral ice where a couple of youthful Caps speedsters were first to it on a 2-on-0 rush. Hendrix Lapierre bumped it to Cole Hutson, and the rookie defenseman fired it past New Jersey netminder Jake Allen to cut the Devils' lead in half, 2-1 at 8:15.
Just over a minute later, the revitalized Washington power play took the ice and scored for the fourth straight game, tying the game at 2-2 at 9:47.
From the point, Ryan Leonard put a shot on net that Allen could not secure. But P-L Dubois was at the top of the paint and he banged it home after Allen stopped his initial bid.
Late in the first, New Jersey jumped back in front when a Dougie Hamilton drive through traffic from center point found purchase behind Logan Thompson at 18:19. Hamilton’s goal – with help from Hughes and Bratt – enabled the Devils to carry a lead into the first intermission, and they would not surrender it.
Hutson made a heady play with about a minute left in the first, carrying deep into Devils ice and deking Allen out of his crease and putting a centering feed to the front for an empty net scoring opportunity, but Lapierre’s shot bounded off a teammate and dribbled to the corner.
Things tightened up a bit it the second. Allen stopped Anthony Beauvillier’s bid for an equalizer off the rush from the left circle early, and Thompson made a key denial of Nick Bjugstad on a good look while Washington was in the midst of an unsuccessful power play in the front half of the middle period.
Just ahead of the midpoint of the middle period, Bratt made a nifty play to set up Hughes for a weak side one-timer at 9:10, restoring New Jersey’s two-goal lead.
Thompson stopped Bratt with a shoulder save on a breakaway, and Allen thwarted Wilson’s try on a give-and-go with Dubois with less than four minutes remaining in the period, and Washington entered the third period looking up at a two-goal deficit.
Down two pucks heading into the third period, the Caps needed to net the first goal of the frame, but it was Hughes who did so at 8:10, finishing at the net front off the rush, and extending the Devils’ lead to 5-2.
Wilson answered back with his 28th goal of the season, taking a Rasmus Sandin feed and whipping it home from the slot at 9:33.
Bratt buried his 20th goal of the season on a New Jersey power play at 12:19, and Mercer netted his second of the night into a vacant Washington net to account for the 7-3 final.
“We just gave them way too much,” says Wilson. “If you come in, and you just make the play in front of you, and you play simple, you're going to have success. We just left them way too much. And it's one of those games where it's not necessarily all that you're generating, it's just you can't give them transition. They’ve got a lot of skill, so they'll make you pay and, yeah, we just needed to keep it more simple and chip away.”
