Hughes' first hat trick lifts Devils past Capitals for Ruff's 800th win

NEWARK, N.J. -- Jack Hughes scored his first career NHL hat trick and the New Jersey Devils defeated the Washington Capitals 5-1 at Prudential Center on Saturday for coach Lindy Ruff's 800th victory.

"It's exciting because I've had [three] two-goal games in my career, so it's nice to cap it off with the third one tonight," Hughes said.
Ruff, 62, is 800-634-141 with 78 ties in 1,653 games since initially taking over as coach of the Buffalo Sabres in 1997. He became just the fifth coach in NHL history to reach the milestone alongside Scotty Bowman (1,244; 1967-2002), Joel Quenneville (969; '96-'22), Barry Trotz (914; '98-'22) and Ken Hitchcock (849; '95-'19).
"It means I've been around a long time," Ruff said. "It's great to win the game. You got to do a lot of right things, have good teams, and the way our team is playing, I have to give them a lot of credit for getting me there."

Dawson Mercer had two assists, and Vitek Vanecek made 37 saves for New Jersey (18-4-0).
John Carlson scored, and Charlie Lindgren made 24 saves for the Capitals (9-11-3), who were beginning a six-game, 12-day road trip.
"Not scoring goals, not capitalizing on our chances," Carlson said. "We've had our chances, especially today, but we only walk away with one goal. We could have had five or six. It's just not going in right now."
Vanecek, who has won 10 of his past 11 decisions (10-1-0), was acquired in a trade with Washington on July 8. It was his first start against his former team.
"I was a little bit nervous before the game. ... It was something special to play against the Caps for the first time, honestly," Vanecek said. "I know they're a really good team, but I tried everything I can to help the team to win the game."

Nico Hischier gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 9:04 of the first period, scoring on a rebound over Lindgren's left pad during a power play.
Vanecek made 10 saves in the first, including a right-pad save against Alex Ovechkin at the left post at 12:04.
"'Ovi' is a really good player, and I know he wanted to score on me, so I was really focused to try to stop everything," Vanecek said.
Hughes pushed it to 2-0 at 5:59 of the second period. Following a turnover at the Capitals' blue line, he skated down the middle of the ice and banked a shot off the left leg of Lindgren from below the goal line.
Hughes then made it 3-0 at 9:19 when he scored from along the goal line with a wrist shot that banked into the net off Lindgren's mask.
"That's a shot I've worked on a lot. ... It's a lucky shot," Hughes said. "You got to hit him in the head. It's got to go in at the right angle, so it's a lucky shot for sure, but I definitely wasn't shooting for the shot on goal, that's for sure."

Hughes completed the hat trick to extend the lead to 4-0 at 9:51 of the third, scoring with a snap shot off a pass from Erik Haula on a 2-on-1.
Carlson scored a power-play goal to make it 4-1 at 11:38 on a slap shot from the point.
"We had a lot of pucks at the net and created a lot, but the bounces just didn't go our way, and that's how it goes sometimes," Washington forward T.J. Oshie said. "I didn't think we gave up a whole lot. They made the most of their chances and we just weren't able to put ours in a hole."
Fabian Zetterlund scored at 14:47 for the 5-1 final.
"When you're winning, obviously it's a lot better, but we like our brand of hockey," Hughes said. "I think we're hard to play against and we like our game away from the puck, too, so I think we're in a good spot right now."
NOTES: Ovechkin had eight shots on goal and 17 shot attempts in 21:34 of ice time. ... New Jersey is 16-0-0 when Hischier records at least one point this season, and 8-0-0 when Hughes scores a goal. ... Devils forward Nathan Bastian left the game after sustaining a shoulder injury following a check by Oshie at 5:53 of the first. … New Jersey won for the first time against Washington at Prudential Center in seven games (1-5-1).