Four unanswered goals carried the Washington Capitals to a 4-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday afternoon at Capital One Arena. Goaltender Logan Thompson turned aside 29 shots and added an assist to lead the Capitals, who used a three-goal surge in the second period to take control of the contest.
New Jersey struck first midway through the opening frame. Arseny Gritsyuk beat Thompson with a snap shot at 10:04, assisted by Dawson Mercer and Stefan Noesen. Washington responded late in the period on the man advantage, as Ryan Leonard scored his third goal of the season on a wrist shot at 16:42 with assists from Jakob Chychrun and Thompson.
The Capitals broke the tie early in the second period when Ilya Protas scored his first goal of the season on a snap shot at 1:16, setup by Alex Ovechkin and Vincent Desharnais. Dylan Strome followed with his first goal of the campaign at 4:36, slipping a backhand past Jake Allen off assists from Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou. Boone Jenner extended the margin to 4-1 at 11:14 with a snap shot assisted by Desharnais and Martin Fehervary. Timo Meier added a power-play goal on a wrist shot with 19 seconds left in the third period for the Devils to finish the scoring.
Thompson stopped 29 of 31 shots to earn the victory for Washington, backed by a defense that registered 22 blocked shots. Allen stopped 21 of 25 shots in the loss for New Jersey. The Capitals converted on one of their two power-play opportunities, while the Devils finished 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
With the win, Washington improved to 5-3-0 on the season and extended its winning streak to two games. The defeat dropped New Jersey to an even 4-4-0 mark through eight games.
Both teams return to the ice on Tuesday, October 20 at 7:00 PM ET. The Capitals host the Los Angeles Kings, while the Devils host the Colorado Avalanche.
