November 30 vs. New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN, Caps Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (16-6-1)
New Jersey Devils (16-8-2)
The Caps finish up a set of back-to-back games, the November portion of their schedule, and their 2024-25 season’s series with the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night in Newark. With a victory in Saturday’s game against the Devils, the Capitals can match their franchise record for consecutive road wins (seven).
Back on Oct. 12 in Washington, the Capitals opened their season against the Devils at Capital One Arena in a 5-3 loss to New Jersey, which was playing its fourth game of the season that night. Nearly two months later, the Devils still have played three more games than the Caps as the teams finish up their uniquely scheduled season’s series.
The two Metro Division rivals played “home-and-home” games on consecutive Saturday nights in October – the Caps played their first road game of the season in Newark on Oct. 19 – and now they’re doing the same in late November. A week ago, the Caps and Devils tangled in the District, and now they’re seeing each other for the final time in the regular season on the final night of November.
Both the Caps and the Devils are coming into Saturday’s game on the heels of 5-4 victories on Black Friday. The Caps came back to defeat the New York Islanders by that score in overtime at Capital One Arena while the Devils did the same to the Red Wings in Detroit, but New Jersey’s comeback win was achieved in regulation.
Friday’s win over the Islanders was Washington’s League-leading ninth comeback win of the season, its third straight comeback win, and its second straight from a two-goal deficit. Down 4-2 heading into the third period, the Caps got goals from Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson to force overtime; both players also scored in the third period of Washington’s previous game in Tampa to help fuel that comeback.
In overtime, Jakob Chychrun skated from the tops of the circles in his own end to the tops of the circles in New York ice, with speed. From there, he unleashed a wrist shot that eluded the blocker of Isles goalie Semyon Varlamov, delivering the Caps’ third straight win and halting a four-game home slide (0-3-1).
“It shows that we’re a really good hockey team,” says Caps’ forward Connor McMichael, who had three assists in Friday’s win. “There’s an old saying that good teams always find a way to win, and it just proves that we’ve got a really good hockey team, and we’ve got guys with high character that never give up on pucks, never give up on plays or games. I thought we did a really good job.”
Each of the Caps’ three wins this week has been fueled by special teams; Chychrun’s 5-on-3 goal was the game-winner on Monday, the first power-play game-winner for the Caps this season. Wilson won it for Washington on Wednesday in Tampa, snapping a 4-4 tie with a power play goal late in the third period.
With power-play goals from Wilson and Strome in Friday’s triumph, the Caps have climbed to 20 percent efficiency on the season and their power play unit – ranked dead last in the NHL three weeks ago this morning – has climbed up to 18th in the circuit. Washington has scored a power-play goal in eight of its last 10 games, clicking at a 41.7 percent clip over that span.
In the five games since the Capitals have been without captain Alex Ovechkin (fractured fibula), they’ve gone 5-for-15 (33.3%) with the extra man.
“We know how big of a loss Ovi is to that power-play unit,” says McMichael. “The other four guys on the unit have tried to step up and bring more energy with the absence of [Ovechkin]. I thought we’ve done a really good job of that. We’re playing really connected; it’s quick little “bang, bang” plays and we’re closer together as a unit.”
New Jersey has won two of the previous three meetings between the two teams in 2024-25, and the Devils have earned a point in all three games. Washington’s lone win was a 6-5 overtime triumph in Newark on Oct. 19, with Wilson delivering the game-winner in overtime that night.
All three Caps-Devils games have been tight; the Devils needed a late empty-net goal in the season opener to supply their two-goal margin of victory.
As they head into their final game of November, the Caps (9-4-1) and the Devils (9-4-0) are both seeking their 10th win of the month. New Jersey leads a three-team horse race for the Metropolitan Division lead; the Devils have accrued 34 points to 33 for both the Caps and the Carolina Hurricanes. But as mentioned earlier, Washington holds three games in hand on New Jersey, and that’s true for Carolina as well.
While Washington can boast the League’s fourth-best penalty killing outfit (85.3%), Carolina and New Jersey are the only two teams in the NHL with both special teams in the top 10. The Devils lit up Detroit for three power-play goals in Friday’s victory in Motown, and they now own the League’s most lethal extra-man unit at 32.5 percent. New Jersey’s penalty kill ranks seventh at 83.8 percent.
