Nov. 10 vs. New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (5-4-2)
New Jersey Devils (7-4-1)
After a successful 3-1-1 homestand, the Capitals take to the road this weekend for a set of back-to-back games against a pair of Metropolitan Division opponents. The trip starts on Friday night in Newark, when the Caps visit the New Jersey Devils for the second and final time this season. A night later, the Caps are on Long Island to face the Islanders.
The Caps come into the busy weekend on the heels of a 4-3 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night in the homestand finale. Washington scored first in a seesaw affair, doing so for just the third time in its 11 games this season. On the strength of two Anthony Mantha goals and a shorthanded strike from Connor McMichael, the Caps carried a 3-2 lead into the third period.
Unforced errors and some loose defensive coverage led to Evan Rodrigues’ tying goal early in the third, and the Caps lost Mantha a few minutes later when he was struck in the head with a deflected Evgeny Kuznetsov shot. Mantha had to be helped off the ice and down the tunnel, and he did not return. He did not accompany the team on its trip this weekend.
Overtime was brief; Sam Reinhart scored just 15 seconds into the extra session, the fastest overtime victory in Florida’s franchise history. Washington has had four of its first 11 games decided in overtime or a shootout; the Caps have won a pair of shootout decisions, and they’ve lost both games decided in overtime, falling in the first minute of the extra session on each occasion.
“We made some egregious mistakes with the puck,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “Against a team like [Florida], you just can’t make them, especially against their best people, who are all feeling it and buzzing around. We just made some really, really mind-boggling plays with the puck, decisions with the puck, positional stuff in the second and third period.”
The silver lining of Wednesday’s loss was the play of the Connor McMichael line, which had a hand in all three Washington goals, and which was – for probably the second straight game – the Caps’ top forward trio. McMichael had Aliaksei Protas (two primary assists) and Mantha on his line; each of the three had a two-point night against the Panthers.
“I think the biggest thing for us is we’re all on the same page,” says McMichael. “We’re all making the right reads, and we’re communicating out there. That just makes the game a lot easier, and obviously the other two guys had a great game as well.”
“Probably – like I said before the game – just execution,” says Protas. “We just took care of our chances. Kind of came in off the rush and everything, and we just took care of it. We got a little lucky on the first one, but took care of the next couple.”
The Caps did score more than two goals in Wednesday’s game, doing so for just the third time in 11 games.
The Capitals were in Newark for the first time late last month, and it remains the site of their biggest offensive outburst of the season. Washington skated off with a 6-4 victory in that game, taking a 3-0 lead in the first period. The Devils roared back with four goals of their own in the middle period, but the Caps scored two goals early in the third and added a late empty-netter to claim their first road win of the season.
Since that Oct. 25 win in Newark, the Caps have been at home for more than two weeks. They’re actually playing their second consecutive road game in New Jersey on Friday.
Following their loss to the Caps late last month, the Devils went on a three-game heater. But New Jersey has also been plagued with injuries in the 16 days since the Caps were last here. The Devils are currently each of their top two pivots, Jack Hughes (shoulder) and Nico Hischier (upper body).
For the Devils, Friday’s game is their first following a four-game road trip in which the team alternated wins and losses, coming home with a 2-2 split. Most recently, the Devils were on the business end of a 6-3 drubbing at the hands of the Avalanche in Denver on Tuesday.
New Jersey has had some difficulty in its own end of the ice in the early going of 2023-24. A dozen games into their season, the Devils have yielded an average of 3.67 goals per game, ranking 29th in the NHL, ahead of only Minnesota, Edmonton and San Jose.
