WASHINGTON, DC -Offense was tough to come by Friday night for the New Jersey Devils, snapping a stretch of four straight multi-goal games. Jesper Bratt finally broke through on Capitals netminder Logan Thompson with his 18th of the season, scoring with just 43 seconds left, but the Capitals had already built a 2-0 lead. 

That late push wasn’t enough, though, as the Devils fell 2-1 to the Washington Capitals.

"I thought we had a push in the third, we had some looks,” Allen said. “But they’re a really good team in the DZone and the OZone. They have a really good hockey team here and made it difficult for us to get in tight in front of the net and get some good looks. When we did, Thompson made some great saves.”

"I thought it was a hard fought game today," head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "There was no easy ice out there.I thought our guys played hard, Washington certainly played hard and made it difficult on us, bt I thought the fact that we continued to dig in and push in the third period, a really good sign. That hasn't been the case for us in a lot of the season to have a push like that, so good signs. You just build off of that and move on to the next one."

Ryan Leonard opened the scoring, jumping off the bench and straight into the play, taking a feed from Brandon Duhaime and snapping it past Jake Allen in the first period. 

From there, Allen did everything he could to keep New Jersey in it, turning aside 26 of 27 shots. But the Devils couldn’t generate much offensively, not finding the back of the net until the final minute.

“I feel bad for him," captain Nico Hischier said post-game about his goaltender. "He gave everything he had and we’ve got to make sure that we get the win for him. Played an unbelievable game, in the third, kept us in the game, big saves. We just couldn’t score. We’ve got to be better for him.”

Bratt’s late goal came after Aliaksei Protas extended the Capitals’ lead to 2-0 with an empty-netter, leaving New Jersey with too little time to complete the comeback.

Here are some observations from the game:

• The loss snaps a three-game win streak for New Jersey, who have won seven of their last nine games. 

“We’ve been playing some good hockey, guys should keep their head high," Allen said. "We have some momentum here, it was a close game against a divisional rival, it’s nice now to have a couple of days to regroup and hit the road again. We’re headed in the right direction.”

• After 40 minutes of play, only two players had multiple shots on net. Jack Hughes and Simon Nemec each had two after two periods of play, and New Jersey was trailing 1-0 in the game and 15-13 in shots.

The Capitals play a clean and structured style that makes it difficult to break down. It wasn't until the third that the Devils created leaks in the Capitals game. 

"I thought we had a little more pace to our game,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “They’re going into the third period with a lead, they maybe lighten up just a little bit, which is all the opening you need to kind of get on the front foot a bit. We knew this team at 5-on-5 was going to be difficult and it certainly was.”

The Devils finally cracked double-digit shots in the third period with 19. They had just five and eight in the first and second period, respectively. 

• Jack Hughes assisted on Bratt's goal, bringing both players current point streaks to five straight games. 

• The offense went cold against the Capitals, snapping a run where New Jersey had put up 4, 6, 4, and 6 goals over their previous four games. 

• Dawson Mercer played his 397th straight game, not having missed a game since he made his NHL debut on October 15, 2021, and is approaching Travis Zajac's club Iron Man record of playing 401 straight games. 

• It felt a bit like a troll job, but in fact it wasn’t, but when Ryan Leonard opened the scoring in the first period, the song Free Bird went full blast on the speakers. It had the feeling of a little dig, the Caps up 1-0 on Jack Hughes’s New Jersey Devils, but in fact (and thanks to the Caps fans for helping me out with this one!), it is Leonard’s personal goal songs.