Connor McMichael pulled the Capitals within 2-1 on the man-advantage at 18:38 when he scored over Daws’ shoulder with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle.
Mercer increased the lead to 3-1 at 8:08 of the second period when he skated across the slot and scored on a one-timer off a pass from Haula.
Kuznetsov cut it to 3-2 when he received a pass from Ovechkin and slid the puck under Daws’ right pad from below the left circle at 11:25.
John Carlson tied it 3-3 with a power-play goal at 18:58, scoring on a slap shot from the point off a pass from Kuznetsov.
“I think we’ve done such a good job throughout the whole year,” Carlson said, “and I think it’s just we play smarter, we’re more disciplined, we’re more detailed and it’s worked out well for us this year. But tonight, just a little bit too much loss of momentum when we did grab it back and not a good enough job sustaining it.”
NOTES: Max Pacioretty made his Washington debut and finished with no shots in 11:47 of ice time in his first game since Jan. 19, 2023. The forward signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Capitals on July 1. He missed the first 35 games because of a torn right Achilles tendon. … Washington is 17-1-5 when scoring two or more goals this season. … Kuznetsov (393) passed Mike Gartner for the fifth-most assists in Capitals history. … Ovechkin has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past three games. … Daws got the secondary assist on Hischier’s first goal for his first NHL point. … Devils forward Ondrej Palat did not play because of a lower-body injury, and Ruff said he is likely unavailable for the next few games. … Jack Hughes got his 30th assist of the season in his 31st game and became the fastest player in Devils franchise history to reach the mark, besting Zach Parise’s pace in 2008-09 (33 games). … McLeod won 10 of 14 face-offs (71.2 percent). … Mercer has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past four games.