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Washington Falls To New Jersey, 3-2 (SO); Strome Extends Point-Streak To Three Games

By Harrison Brown·
Photo by John McCreary/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals lost the New Jersey Devils by a score of 3-2 in a shootout at Capital One Arena on Thursday night in their lone home game in a span of seven. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 38 saves in the loss.

Washington’s Lines vs. New Jersey

Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Anthony Mantha
Sonny Milano — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson
Conor Sheary — Dylan Strome — T.J. Oshie
Craig Smith — Nic Dowd — Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Rasmus Sandin — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Matt Irwin — Gabriel Carlsson
Alexander Alexeyev — Vinny Iorio

Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: C Aliaksei Protas

Injured: D John Carlson (upper-body, missed 30th straight game, out indefinitely); RW Connor Brown (ACL, 62nd, indefinite); LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 66th, indefinite); D Martin Fehervary (upper-body, third, day-to-day); D Nick Jensen (upper-body, third, day-to-day)

Smith and Sheary, who moved the left side, flipped lines while Oshie bumped down one spot and Sheary moved up two from Washington’s 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday. Milano was elevated by one while Wilson moved down by one. Mantha moved to the right side of the top-line. Backstrom moved into the top-10 in NHL games played all-time by a Swede, skating in his 1,080th career contest.

New Jersey’s Lines

Tomas Tatar — Nico Hischier — Dawson Mercer
Timo Meier — Jack Hughes — Jesper Boqvist
Ondrej Palat — Erik Haula — Jesper Bratt
Miles Wood — Michael McLeod — Nathan Bastian

Jonas Siegenthaler — Dougie Hamilton
Ryan Graves — John Marino
Brenden Smith — Damon Severson

Akira Schmid
Vitek Vanecek

Scratched: C Curtis Lazar, D Kevin Bahl

Injured: G Jonathan Bernier (hip, 64th, indefinite); G MacKenzie Blackwood (lower-body, eighth, indefinite)

First Period

Scoring

19:50, 1-0 Washington: After Marino blocked Backstrom’s wrister in the slot, Van Riemsdyk got the puck, one-timed a shot, and got a bounce off of Graves’ knee that helped the puck squeak through the five-hole of Schmid. The 31-year-old has now recorded seven points (three goals) in in his last 14 games.

Shots: 9-7 New Jersey

Other Notable Stats: New Jersey failed to score on one power play, led 3-2 in takeaways in addition to 5-2 in blocked shots, and had just one giveaway while Washington tallied four. Each team threw eight hits.

Second Period

Scoring

6:55, 1-1 (PPG): Haula banked a shot off of Alexeyev’s knee and the mask of Kuemper down low after playing catch with Mercer, who was at the point and extended his scoring streak to 11 games (10 goals, 19 points).

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7:, 2-1 New Jersey: Mercer potted a rebound into an open goal in front after Kuemper shut down a point shot by Hischier with the pad.

9:50, 2-2: The puck dribbled to the slot after Oshie threw the puck off of the stick of Bastian from the corner and Strome, who extended his point streak to three games (two goals, five points), swooped into the crease to tip it over Schmid. Oshie has recorded 12 points (six goals) in his last 11 games.

With 4:45 left, Kuemper flashed the glove on Mercer’s wrister from the left dot before falling down and grabbing Hischier’s shot with the glove as Hischier had nothing but net to look at while Kuemper was falling.

Shots: 25-14 New Jersey (including 16-7 in the second)

Other Notable Stats: Washington, who was held off on their lone power play opportunity, led 12-9 in hits. New Jersey, who scored once on three chances with the extra man and won 56% of the faceoffs, led 12-7 in blocked shots and had just three giveaways while Washington tallied seven.

Third Period

Scoring

None

Shots: 39-18 New Jersey (including 14-4 in the third)

Other Notable Stats: Washington led 18-12 in hits, 15-14 in blocked shots, and 7-6 in takeaways but New Jersey credited with six giveaways while Washington tallied 12.

Overtime

Scoring

None

Shots: 40-22 New Jersey (4-1 Washington in overtime)

Shootout

Oshie missed the net on the backhand after deking in.

Hughes raced in and deked before getting Kuemper showed him the leather.

Kuznetsov stickhandled his way to the net but hit the post.

Bratt deked and tried to backhand but fanned on the puck with an open net at the right post.

Backstrom waltzed in, deked, but was shut down when he tried to go five-hole.

Kuemper robbed Hischier with the right pad.

Ovechkin missed the net on the backhand.

Meier ripped one under the blocker of Kuemper with a wrister from the slot.

Current Eastern Conference Wild-Card Standings

Washington got within six points of the Pittsburgh Penguins (who have two games in hand) for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. They still trail the Florida Panthers (one game in hand) for the third wild-card spot and by one point but lead the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres (both have two games in hand) by a point in the race. They lead the Detroit Red Wings (two games in hand) by one point.

Next game: Saturday at Long Island (7:30 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)

By Harrison Brown