The Washington Capitals fell to the New Jersey Devils, 5-3 in their 2024-25 season-opener Saturday night at Capital One Arena in the District.
After killing two Devils power plays in the first half of the first period, the Capitals opened the scoring with a power play strike from John Carlson. However, the Devils quickly answered with a pair of tallies from Seamus Casey and Paul Cotter for a 2-1 lead at the first intermission.
The Capitals tied the game just 32 second into the middle stanza with a short-range tally from Dylan Strome, but the Devils answered a little over three minutes later with a tally from Tomas Tatar to restore their one-goal lead, 3-2. They stretched their lead to two goals on Paul Cotter’s second goal of the game and held the 4-2 lead into the second intermission.
Tom Wilson cut the Devils lead to 4-3 just 1:35 into the final period. But that was it. The Devils held off the Capitals and added an empty net goal for the 5-3 final.
STARTERS
Charlie Lindgren (0-0-0, 0.00 GAA, .000 sv%) got the start in goal for the Capitals’ season opener. Jacob Markstrom (1-1-0, 2.55 GAA, .906 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Devils in their fourth game of the season. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Andrew Mangiapane
Connor McMichael – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Tom Wilson
Sonny Milano – Hendrix Lapierre – Aliaksei Protas
Brandon Duhaime – Nic Dowd – Taylor Raddysh
Jakob Chychrun – John Carlson
Martin Fehervary – Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin – Trevor van Reimsdyk
Charlie Lindgren
Logan Thompson
Scratches: Jakub Vrana, Alex Alexeyev, Dylan McIlrath
FIRST PERIOD
The Capitals endured two penalty kills in the first half of the first frame to keep the game scoreless. The Capitals would dent the twine 10 seconds into their first power play on a bomb from the blueline by John Carlson (1) at 10:48. Pierre-Luc Dubois (1) had the primary helper. Dylan Strome had the secondary assist.
The Devils quickly answered on a goal from Seamus Casey with a little over six minutes remaining in the first period. J. Bratt (2) and T. Meier (1) had the helpers.
The Devils took their first lead of the night with 3:36 remaining in the first period. Paul Cotter (3) notched the go ahead marker. S. Noesen (2) and E. Haula (2) had the helpers.
The Devils held the 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The Devils led in 5-on-5 shot attempts, 19-16 in the first period.
SECOND PERIOD
The Capitals tied the game early in the second period. Dylan Strome notched the tying tally just 32 seconds into the middle frame. John Carlson (1) and Alex Ovechkin (1) had the helpers.
But the Devils answered back. Tomas Tatar (1) notched the go ahead tally to make it 3-2 at 3:56 of the second period. S. Noesen (3) and E. Haula (3) had the assists.
Capitals defenseman Matt Roy sustained a lower body injury and did not return to tonight’s game.
The Devils made it 4-2 on Paul Cotter’s second goal of the night at 13:38 of the second period. S. Noesen (4) and E. Haula (4) had the assists.
The period concluded with the Devils leading, 4-2. The Devils led in 5-on-5 shot attempts 38-35 after two periods. The Milano-Lapierre-Protas line was a -3 after two periods.
THIRD PERIOD
The Capitals cut the Devils lead to one goal on a beautiful behind-the-goal pass from Connor McMichael (1) to Tom Wilson (1) in the slot for the tally at 1:35 of the third period.
But that would be all the scoring the Capitals could generate. The Devils added an empty net goal for the 5-3 win.
