Hughes' Hat Trick Helps Devils Down Caps

It was bound to happen sooner or later, but Washington's lengthy run of success against the New Jersey Devils came to a halt on Saturday night in Newark when the Devils handed the Caps a 5-1 setback. Jack Hughes notched the first hat trick of his career, a natural hat trick achieved in the second and third periods and bookended with goals from Nico Hischier in the first and Fabian Zetterlund in the third.

Vitek Vanecek stopped 37 of 38 shots for the Devils - including eight off the stick of Alex Ovechkin - to earn the win in his first start against his former team, and New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff became just the fifth coach in NHL history to notch his 800th career victory.
Saturday's loss came in the wake of consecutive victories for Washington, the third time this season the Caps haven't been able to extend a two-game winning run to three straight games. Saturday's loss stretches the Capitals' road losing streak to six straight (0-4-2), their longest road skid since a nine-game dry spell (0-7-2) late in the 2006-07 campaign.
Facing a Devils team that has now won 15 of its last 16 games, the Caps played a strong first period and gave themselves a chance to get the early jump on New Jersey. But in what has become an all too familiar road story, they weren't able to capitalize on a number of good chances and ended up falling behind and chasing the game.
"It was an unfortunate result for the game, the way it was played," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "But they had some bounces that went their way, and I thought our guys pressed the whole night."
During the life of their current six-game losing streak away from D.C., Washington has held the lead for only 14 minutes and 32 seconds of the 370 minutes of hockey it has played over that span, and it has not owned a lead in its last 290 minutes and 2 seconds of hockey on the road, dating back to the second period of a Nov. 3 game in Detroit.
"Yeah, it's really hard," says Caps center Nic Dowd of chasing leads this season. "We jumped out to an early lead in [Friday's] game, and it feels really good. It's just nice to be playing with the lead. I couldn't tell you the stats of it, but it's just felt like we've been coming from behind almost every single game this season."
Washington went on the power play early in Saturday's contest, and it had a pair of opportunities with the extra man in the game's opening period. The Caps also had the better of the territory and possession game in the first period, teeing up 17 shot attempts to just six for the Devils at even strength in the first period. But it was New Jersey that broke the seal on the scoresheet first, doing so on its first power play opportunity of the evening.
Caps goalie Charlie Lindgren stopped Dougie Hamilton's center point drive, and Lindgren also thwarted Dawson Mercer's follow-up bid from in tight. But the third time was the charm for the Devils, who took a 1-0 lead when Nico Hischier potted the rebound of Mercer's try at 9:04 of the first.
"I thought we played pretty well in the first period and had some good looks," says Caps center Dylan Strome. "And they capitalized on their power play and we didn't, and we kind of chased the game from there."
Vanecek stopped all 10 shots he faced in the first, making an excellent pad stop on Ovechkin before the game's first television timeout and benefiting when Lars Eller rang the post behind him on a 2-on-1 rush sparked by a sharp Matt Irwin stretch pass.
The Caps brought pucks to the net, they moved it around crisply and efficiently, and they forced the Devils to play more defense than they would have liked in the first, but to no avail offensively. New Jersey entered the game with a League-low average of 25.2 shot on net permitted per night, and the Caps' total of 38 is the most the Devils have allowed this season. Washington became just the third team in 21 New Jersey games this season to rack up more than 30 shots against the Devils.
"I certainly felt like we had the chances, the quality of chances, to get four, five, six goals," says Eller. "But we just couldn't capitalize today."
In the second, Hughes intercepted a pass at the Washington line. He then carried toward the cage and below the goal line on the left side of the net, then abruptly flipped the puck back against the grain, banking it off Lindgren and in for a 2-0 New Jersey lead at 5:59 of the middle period.
Just over three minutes later, Hughes struck again with a wicked bank shot from no angle, this one from the goal line. He fired it high, banking it off Lindgren's bucket and in for a 3-0 New Jersey lead at 9:19.
The Caps kept vying for some offense, but Vanecek made every first save and rebounds were either cleared or bounded past Washington skaters before they could be whacked home. The Caps were also guilty of fanning or partially fanning on some shots from quality scoring areas.
In the third Hughes, completed his hat trick at 9:51. Devils forward Erik Haula blocked Erik Gustafsson's shot at the New Jersey line, creating a 2-on-1 with Hughes. Haula fed him and Hughes did the rest, beating Lindgren with a shot from the left has mark for his most conventional goal of the night.
"It's exciting," says Hughes. "A couple two goal games in my career so it's nice to cap it off with a third one tonight."
John Carlson spoiled Vanecek's shutout bid on a Washington power play at 11:38 of the third, taking a tee up feed from Strome and hammering it home from center point.
Zetterlund concluded the scoring with a shot from the slot at 14:47.
New Jersey's victory on Saturday broke up an 11-0-1 run for Washington against the Devils - the Capitals' longest active point streak against any opponent - and also halted the Caps' six-game winning streak at Prudential Center.
Vanecek improved to 10-2 on the season with Saturday's victory.
"I know he wanted to score on me, so I was really focused to try to stop everything," says Vanecek of facing Ovechkin for the second time (first start).
Ruff began his coaching career with Buffalo in 1997-98, taking the Sabres to the Eastern Conference Final where Washington ousted them in six games. In addition to being fifth all-time on the coaching wins list, he is fifth all-time in games coached (1,653), working for Buffalo, Dallas and New Jersey along the way.
"It means I've been around a long time," says Ruff. "It was great to win the game. You've got to do a lot of right things, you've got to have good teams, and the way our team is playing, I've got to give them a lot of credit for getting me there."