Playing his first game in his sixth different NHL uniform, defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok snapped a 2-2 tie with a seeing-eye shot from the right point at 6:27 of the third period of Thursday’s game between the Capitals and the New Jersey Devils at Newark’s Prudential Center.
Recalled from AHL Utica earlier in the day, Kolyachonok’s sixth NHL goal in 88 career games was the game-winner in a 5-2 Devils victory over Washington. Half of his half dozen career goals have been game-winners. Each of the Devils’ middle three goals came off the sticks of players who weren’t with New Jersey when it played its previous game in Winnipeg on Tuesday night.
Thursday’s loss thwarted the Caps’ bid for a third straight win.
“I think we're figuring out our identity right now,” says caps winger Tom Wilson. “Ottawa brought the game to the trenches [on Tuesday]. We were kind of caught off guard; once we adjusted to that, we were right there and right in the game.
“Tonight's a completely different style. It's run and gun, high skill. So, I think we’ve just got to be a little bit more consistent with our play, figure out what type of team we're going to be. We're versatile; we can play different styles. But coming into a game like tonight, we’ve got to just be a little bit better and more consistent, and we'll be all right.”
Caps defenseman Cole Hutson was whistled for a holding call in the first minute of Thursday’s game, and the Devils took advantage on the ensuing power play, jumping out to a 1-0 lead on Evan Rodrigues goal at 2:20of the first frame. After taking a cross-ice feed from Timo Meier, Rodrigues fired a shot from the right dot to the far side of the cage, behind Logan Thompson.
Washington pulled even on a power play of its own in the back half of the first. After putting six shots on New Jersey netminder Connor Hellebuyck on the man advantage, the Caps finally broke through on the seventh one, just three seconds before the power play was to expire.
From deep in Washington ice, Hutson threaded a feed for Ryan Leonard near the red line. The slight hiccup of a bouncing puck prevented a clean entry, but Hutson was able to re-gather the puck and make a zone entry. He then dished it to Leonard down low, and the winger kicked it to his blade as he took it to the cooker, went to his backhand and casually beat Hellebuyck on the stick side from the top of the paint at 14:10.
“It was just a rush, and I tried to attack with the time left we had,” recounts Leonard.
New Jersey put some serious early heat on the Caps, and Thompson needed to make some big stops – and his teammates some big blocks in front of him – to keep the Devils from adding to that early lead. Thompson stopped Connor Brown from in tight early, and he also stopped Meier soon after Leonard’s tying goal.
Thompson saved one of his best stops for the final minute of the first, stymying Devils center Jack Hughes with his blocker on a 2-on-1 rush chance.
The Caps took advantage of a Meier turnover early in the second period, and after working the puck around the Devils zone for about half a minute, they took the lead with Pierre-Luc Dubois lighting the lamp for the third straight game.
Jack St. Ivany put the puck behind the New Jersey net for Aliaksei Protas, who quickly put it on Dubois’ tape. From the right dot, Dubois beat his former Winnipeg teammate, lifting the Caps to a 2-1 lead at 2:11 of the second.
Just ahead of the midpoint of the middle period, the Devils drew even when Lenni Hameenaho tipped home a left point shot off the stick of ex-Caps defender Brenden Dillon at 9:57. Hameenaho was also called up from Utica – where he was the Comets’ leading scorer this season – and he netted his first NHL goal of the season in his first game with New Jersey in 2026-27.
Kolyachonok’s goal came five seconds after an icing call led to a draw in Washington’s end of the ice. Rodrigues won the right dot draw, and the Russian blueliner’s shot found its way through some cross traffic before hitting Thompson and falling into the net at 6:27 of the third; the Washington goaltender likely didn’t see it until it hit him.
The Caps put some good pressure on Hellebuyck in an effort to cobble together an equalizer, and the Devils goalie made strong stops on Hutson from inside the left circle and Wilson on the doorstep to preserve the slim lead.
But with just under three minutes remaining in the third and the Caps still vying for the tying tally, veteran forward Stefan Noesen – also recalled from Utica on Thursday – won a race to a loose puck in Washington ice and beat Thompson with a backhander to make it 4-2 at 17:07, the first multi-goal lead of the game.
Jack Hughes’ late empty-netter accounted for the 5-2 final.
“I thought it was a fairly even game,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “They get momentum off the early power play, which sort of takes us a little bit to find our footing.
“And then you knew the third was going to come down to who can impose their will and who can make winning plays more consistently for 20 minutes, and we just crack. We end up cracking after a great penalty kill. We grab momentum, and then we end up cracking.”
Hellebuyck improved to 6-0-0 since joining the Devils in an Oct. 23 trade with the Jets, becoming the first NHL goaltender to win their first six decisions with a team since Thompson reeled off seven straight victories for the Caps at the outset of the 2024-25 season.
“It’s not the prettiest game, but you’ve got to find ways to win these ones,” says New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe. “I thought we stuck with it long enough, had a little good fortune on our side to get some pucks in the net and it was enough to win the game.”
The two teams will tangle again on Saturday night at Capital One Arena.
