Devils Lose in Wild Affair Against Capitals | GAME STORY

NEWARK, NJ - The Devils erased a 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead only to eventually fall, 6-4, in a wild back-and-forth affair against the Washington Capitals at Prudential Center on Wednesday night.

New Jersey trailed 3-0 after the first period. The Devils scored four consecutive goals in a 5:30-span of the second period to take a 4-3 lead. Tyler Toffoli scored twice while Timo Meier and Nico Hischier added tallies.

The Capitals built their lead with goals from Anthony Mantha, Dylan Strome and Sonny Milano in the first period. They posted three more goals in the third period from Strome (again), Connor McMichael and Alex Ovechkin (empty-net).

“We have to win more battles. We have to compete harder on the puck,” head coach Lindy Ruff said. “If you look at tonight’s first period, every battle went to them. Our puck play was atrocious, passing couldn’t go tape-to-tape. We missed passes. I thought we were a soft team.

“I think we got what we deserved tonight.”

Here are some observations from the game:

• The Devils continue to struggle with their starts. They’ve allowed the first goal in every game this season, and once again were victimized by Washington. The Devils surrendered three goals before they even registered their third shot. Though they stormed back in the second period, things fell apart early in the third period. New Jersey climbed out of the early deficit, but it’s something they know they’ll need to clean up moving forward. 

Meier: "We did a good job coming back and then let it slip again with a terrible start to the third period. I think this loss is a lot on us. We have to find a way to have better starts, especially at home. We've talked about it before. Today was another example of just a bad start."

Toffoli: "It's a bad habit that we're in right now. It's definitely frustrating spotting a couple of goals to the other team and then chasing it. We showed that we can dominate games, periods and shifts. For whatever reason it's just not there for us right now at the start."

• The Devils had as explosive a second period as possible. They scored three goals in 2:11 minutes and four goals in 5:30 to flip a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 lead. It was fueled by Toffoli, Hughes and Meier. The Devils led the NHL in comeback wins and multi-goal comeback wins. And they showed that no lead is safe when their offensive talents.

• Is there a hotter line in the NHL than the Toffoli-Hughes-Meier triumvirate? In the past two games they’ve combined for six goals, 10 assists and 16 points. That’s in the last two games!! From Toffoli (5g-1), Hughes (7a) and Meier (1g-2a).

• Speaking of Hughes, he now has 17 points (4g-13a) in the opening six games of the season to lead the league in points and assists.

• Toffoli has six goals in his last three games played. 
• Jesper Bratt extended his point streak to five games with an assist (3g-7a). 
• Akira Schmid started the game in goal for New Jersey. He gave up three goals on eight shots and was replaced to start the second period. Though the goals weren’t necessarily all on Schmid’s shoulders, the Devils looked to get a spark from a switch. And they got it from Vitek Vanecek. He stopped Strome to start the period and allowed New Jersey to mount a monstrous second period. Vanecek settled things for his team.

Ruff: "Did you see the number of times they skated right through us? Is that our goalie's fault? ... There are five guys in front of our goaltender. We made an unbelievable effort to play good defensive hockey last year. If we're going to play like this, we're going to make it extremely tough on ourselves."

• Hischier has two goals in his past two games.

• The Devils vaunted power play was held off the board for the first time this season.
• Dougie Hamilton's five-game point streak came to an end.