The New Jersey Devils had every reason to come into their Saturday night tilt against the Washington Capitals and lose.
However, this team continues to find new ways to win, and they did just that in their first game without Jack Hughes in 2025-26.
Missing their franchise player, Shane Lachance made his NHL debut, and Nathan Legare drew in after he was recalled from the Utica Comets.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe was forced to try a new lineup, and once again pushed the right buttons.
Let’s dive into the Devils’ Saturday night win, their 13th of the season.
Period One
Despite coming into Saturday night’s game with all the reason to be sluggish, the Devils instead pounced on the Capitals in the early goings of the first period.
Just 1:23 into the first period, Dawson Mercer drew a hooking penalty on Tom Wilson, sending the Devils to the first power play of the game. Nic Dowd then took a high-sticking minor at the 3:15, which extended New Jersey’s opportunity on the man advantage.
After the Devils’ first power play unit couldn’t convert, Luke Hughes slid a pass to Arseny Gritsyuk in the right circle, and the Devils rookie one timed a missile past Logan Thompson to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead.
The Devils kept the pressure on Washington, and even drew another penalty when Anthony Beauvillier hooked Mercer later in the first. Yet, the Capitals PK killed the infraction.
Near the 17-minute mark of the first frame, Jesper Bratt skated the puck deep into the Capitals zone and put a shot on Thompson. He turned it aside into the left corner, where Bratt retrieved his chance. He sent the puck to Luke at the point, and Luke scored his first goal of the season to extend the Devils lead to 2-0.
Bratt appeared injured on the play after taking a hit in the corner, but remained in the game.
Period Two
Holding a 2-0 lead, the Devils and Capitals returned for the second period where they left off. New Jersey owned puck possession through the first five minutes.
However, the Capitals began to tilt the ice in the direction.
When the ice evened, the two sides began trading chaotic rush chances, before things eventually settled.
At the 12:12 mark, Mercer took New Jersey’s first penalty, as he was called for hooking Tom Wilson. The Devils PK, consisting of Bratt, Jonas Siegenthaler, Nico Hischier, and Luke Glendening, while Brenden Dillon visited the Devils locker room.
The Devils killed the penalty, and Dillon returned to the game.
In the final moments of the second period, sparks flew, and the Devils and Capitals began to get physical between the whistles.
The Capitals took control of the ice in the second period, despite New Jersey holding a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes.
Washington out-shot the Devils 13-6 in the second period.
Period Three
The Capitals scored early in the third period, a goal by Connor McMichael, who scored on a wide-open net with Jake Allen’s attention drawn elsewhere.
The Capitals nearly tied the game when Tom Wilson was sprung for a breakaway off the bench, and pushed the puck on the backhand between the legs of Allen. The puck hit the post and Aliaksei Protas recovered it and pressured with a follow-up chance, but Allen turned the shot aside.
The Devils then drove the puck down to the other end of the ice for a scoring chance themselves, but Thompson maintained Washington’s one-goal deficit.
New Jersey remained a bit out of sync in the third period, and it cost them.
The Capitals hemmed the Devils in their own zone, and worked the cycle against New Jersey. Alexander Ovechkin in the slot picked up a loose puck, and threw it on net without looking to fool Allen and tie the game at two.
In fact, times were so tough in Washington that Keefe shortened the Devils’ bench. Stefan Noesen and Luke Glendening saw few shifts, while Lachance didn’t hit the ice in the third period at all.
The Devils were able to eventually settle things a bit, and even pressured the Capitals in the latter half of the third period. However, Thompson stood tall, and kept New Jersey off the board.
The clock hit zeros, and the game then went to overtime.
Overtime
The Devils had a huge opportunity to end the game when Timo Meier and Simon Nemec led an odd-man rush. However, Thompson made two saves on each skater during the rush to keep the Devils off the board.
On the other end of the ice, Allen did the same thing to Washington, when Ovechkin and Wilson were sent for their own odd-man rush.
New Jersey maintained puck possession for most of the overtime, and pressured Thompson for seven shots in the extra frame. However, the Capitals goaltender stood tall, sending the game to the shootout.
The shootout lasted four rounds, and the Devils swiped the extra point from the table with goals by Bratt and Nemec, who won the game as the eighth shooter.
Allen made 31 saves on 33 shots in 65 minutes, stopped Ovechkin with an unreal sprawling saved in the shootout, and reeled in his seventh in of the season.
James is the New Jersey Devils beat reporter for New Jersey Hockey Now on Sportsnaut and the PHWAs New … More about James Nichols