Devils fall to Capitals, 4-1

A three-goal outburst by the Washington Capitals in the second period created a hill the New Jersey Devils could not surmount.

On Tuesday night, New Jersey dropped their matchup with the Capitals 4-1. Kenny Agostino was the Devils lone goal scorer, pulling the two teams even at the end of the first period before the Capitals fired three unanswered past New Jersey.
Here are 10 takeaways from the game:
1. 3,500. That's how many regular-season NHL games the New Jersey Devils franchise has now played in the regular season. On Tuesday night, the Devils reached the milestone moment against the Washington Capitals, in the 2860th game as the New Jersey Devils. The franchised added another 480 with the Colorado Rockies and 160 games played as the Kansas City Scouts. (NHL PR)

2. Kenny Agostino played the hometown hero at the end of the first period. With just a single second left on the clock, Agostino fired a wrist shot through the slot and plenty of traffic to tie the game at one.
   Tweet from @NJDevils: Jersey boy, @kennyagostino 🙌 pic.twitter.com/2jiEiUhW64
   Agostino's goal was unassisted and his sixth goal of the year to add to his point total. He now has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past six games.
   3. Agostino finished the night with three shots on goal, tied with linemate Kevin Rooney for the team lead against Washington.
   4. Palmieri left with an injury early in the first period. His night ended after just 1:18 of ice time and a single shot on goal. Palmieri was hit by Washington defenseman Nick Jensen at 4:35 of the opening period, a hit that would take him out for the remainder of the game. Palmieri sat on the bench briefly talking to trainers before heading to the locker room.
   5. With the absence of Palmieri, rookie Joey Anderson covered many of Palmieri's second line minutes. Though he didn't quite reach his career-high in minutes (15:55), the 20-year-old played 15:44, just a couple seconds off matching his career-high, against Washington with one shot on goal and 1:20 of power play ice time.
   6. The Devils managed just 21 shots on Washington goaltender Pheonix Copley. New Jersey was unable to crack double digits in any of the three periods, with just seven in the first, five in the second and nine in the third.
   7. Mackenzie Blackwood spent the better part of the night making some heroic saves against the high-octane Capitals. Several odd-man-rushes in the second period, did Blackwood and the rest of the squad in with three goals given up on nine shots. Blackwood ended the night with 18 saves on 22 shots.
   8. Defenseman Egor Yakovlev returned to the Devils lineup after two games out of the lineup with an upper-body injury. He paired up with Steven Santini and played 18:54.
   9. Though he was credited with an assist, the New Jersey Devils held Washington superstar Alex Ovechkin to zero shots on goal. Only on one other occasion in the 52 meetings, Ovechkin had had with New Jersey has the team held him without a shot (3/18/11).
   10. The Devils began a string of four consecutive home games on Tuesday night against Washington. New Jersey will host Boston, Arizona and Buffalo before returning to the road next weekend in Detroit.