Devils recover, defeat Capitals in OT on Hischier's second goal

WASHINGTON -- Nico Hischier scored his second goal of the game at 2:56 of overtime to give the New Jersey Devils a 4-3 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Sunday.

Hischier scored on a wrist shot from the right circle off a pass from Jack Hughes.
"Jack, I was hoping he sees me, but he obviously did," Hischier said. "So I was there alone and just tried to go far side and it worked out finally."
Damon Severson had a goal and an assist and Hughes had two assists for the Devils (13-15-5), who have won three straight, each by one goal. Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves.
"You can see it, we're playing hard, we're playing smart," Hischier said. "We're skating again and most importantly we're playing our system and we know with our system, if we play it, we stop and everybody does his job, it's tough to play against."

New Jersey had lost nine straight to Washington (0-7-2) since a 3-2 win Feb. 22, 2020.
John Carlson, Nic Dowd and Conor Sheary scored for the Capitals (20-6-8), who scored twice in the third period to tie the game. Ilya Samsonov made 33 saves for Washington, which is 0-7 in games decided in overtime.
"Proud of the team for battling back in a game," Capitals forward Tom Wilson said. "We could have started maybe a little bit better. We gave them time and space, made them feel fast and against a team like that, it's dangerous."
The Capitals pulled within 3-2 at 13:22 of the third period when Dowd knocked in puck out of midair from a sharp angle; and Lars Eller collected a Blackwood turnover and passed to Sheary, who scored into an open net to tie it 3-3 at 16:13.
"I'll take 20 of those a year if I could. Kind of a fortunate bounce," Sheary said. "I think maybe [Blackwood] was just trying to play it, make a play. Lars obviously found me backdoor with a wide-open net."

Yegor Sharangovich knocked in the rebound of a Hughes shot on the rush to give the Devils a 1-0 lead at 7:15 of the first period.
Severson made it 2-0 at 8:29 when he scored from the bottom of the left circle off a pass across the slot by Dawson Mercer.
"We made eye contact … and I just kept creeping, creeping. It's one of those plays where you just connect," Severson said of Mercer. "I saw him look at me. I just figured if I kept going back there, he'd find me, and I took the shot."

Carlson pulled the Capitals within 2-1 when he took a drop pass from Michael Sgarbossa in the right circle and beat Blackwood with a wrist shot at 19:13.
Hischier deflected Severson's point shot past Samsonov 22 seconds into the second period to give the Devils a 3-1 lead.
"We were chasing the game and not clean," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "We gave up too much, too much defensively, too many chances. Give up 20-plus chances and you are not going to win a game."
NOTES: Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton left the game after getting hit in the jaw with deflected puck 7:05 into the first period. Devils assistant Alain Nasreddine said Hamilton was taken to a hospital to be evaluated. … Capitals forwards Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie did not play due to non-COVID illness. … Nasreddine coached the Devils again after Lindy Ruff was placed in COVID-19 protocol prior to an overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers on Friday. He was the coach the last time the Devils defeated the Capitals. … Nasreddine coached New Jersey for 43 games in 2019-20 (19-16-8) after John Hynes was fired on Dec. 3, 2019. Nasreddine was replaced by Ruff on July 9, 2020. … Hughes has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past three games. … Sharangovich has a four-game point streak (three goals, two assists). … Carlson has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past three games. … Eller played 14:31 in his return after missing a 3-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday because of a non-COVID illness.