Capitals vs. Devils Recap: Washington Wastes One

Hosting the Devils in a Metropolitan Division weekend matchup the Capitals came out flat and limped their way to a 5 to 1 loss on home ice.

Here’s Saturday night’s Plus/Minus:

Plus: Jakub Vrana’s second period goal was his twentieth of the season and his fifth goal in as many games.

Minus: For the eighth time in the last nine contests the Capitals have yielded the game’s first goal.

Eight more notes on the game:

1. A little more than five minutes into the contest New Jersey put themselves ahead by one. Storming in alone down the left wing Nico Hischier fired a hard and low shot that beat Braden Holtby between the legs.
2. Washington was awarded a late first period power play but neither the new PP1 nor PP2 were able to convert their chances.
3. The Devils were also unable to convert on their first power play but 2 seconds after Tom Wilson’s penalty expired Nikita Gusev dunked home New Jersey’s second goal of the game.
4. A few minutes later the Devils were whistled for a double minor penalty. Instead of changing the momentum of the game the first power play unit gave up a shorthanded goal to Blake Coleman, extending New Jersey’s lead to three.
5. Washington would respond on the back half of the double minor to stop the bleeding. Vrana took the puck from behind the net and stuffed it into the net on his backhand behind Louis Dominigue to get the Capitals on the scoreboard.
6. But 3:43 later Hischier slammed home his second of the game. A beautiful cross ice feed from Kyle Palmieri put the puck on a platter for Hischier and he did not miss.
7. Early in the third period the Capitals had a two man advantage for 43 seconds but the home team was unable to put any pucks past Domingue.
8. And with 4:56 to play Miles Wood potted New Jersey’s fifth of the night to close out the scoring.