Led by two goals each from Dylan Strome and Brandon Duhaime, Washington beat New Jersey, 5-3.
The Washington Capitals rolled out a nearly full-strength lineup for their third game of the preseason Wednesday night at Prudential Center, and it led them to their first win, a 5-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils in Newark.
The Devils, too, sent out a strong lineup ahead of their trip to Prague for the NHL Global Series, which opens the regular season Oct. 4. The Capitals host New Jersey in their season opener Oct. 12.
Brenden Dillon scored the opening goal for the Devils in the first period, but a flurry of goals for Washington late in the second propelled the visitors to the lead. In a span of less than five minutes, defenseman John Carlson tied it, center Dylan Strome put the Capitals ahead with a breakaway finish and winger Brandon Duhaime extended the lead with a tip-in out front.
Strome added another goal with 6:13 remaining in the third period. The Capitals needed the extra cushion when Jack Hughes made it a one-goal game with 2:57 left, and Duhaime added a second goal of his own into the empty net to seal the win.
Goaltender Logan Thompson, making his preseason debut for Washington after being traded from the Vegas Golden Knights in June, made 25 saves. Jacob Markstrom stopped 22 of 26 shots for New Jersey.
The Capitals host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday in their fourth of six preseason contests.
Here are three takeaways from the win:
Mangiapane meshes with top line
Washington Coach Spencer Carbery opened training camp Thursday with Strome centering Alex Ovechkin and Andrew Mangiapane and hasn’t deviated from the combination. In their first game as a trio, they looked cohesive and displayed the traits that led Carbery to play them together from the beginning.
Earlier in camp, Carbery highlighted Mangiapane’s ability to retrieve pucks and do the dirty work for his linemates, and that work ethic was evident as Mangiapane consistently made the little plays to keep the puck alive and work his way into the offensive zone. Strome and Ovechkin’s chemistry has carried over from last season, and in the early days of training camp, Mangiapane appears to be a tailor-made fit on the other wing.
On Strome’s second goal, Mangiapane carried the puck through the neutral zone before dropping it to Ovechkin for a dump-in. Ovechkin won the puck back along the wall and found Carlson in space for a delivery to the front of the net, where Strome deflected the puck in. Mangiapane was stationed next to Strome at the top of the crease, occupying Markstrom’s attention and helping create room for Strome to score.
Chychrun and Carlson clicking
The new top defensive pairing of Carlson and Jakob Chychrun isn’t necessarily intended to be permanent; Carbery paired them so Carlson could help Chychrun get up to speed as quickly as possible but left open the possibility that the pair could change as camp went along.
But after the pair finished the night with a plus-3 rating and combined for six shots on goal, with Carlson picking up a goal and an assist, they may remain together moving forward. As is to be expected in a pair’s first game, there were imperfect moments — both are offensive-minded and at times forgot that at least one of them needs to stay back to defend — but as they settled in, the offensive upside was undeniable.
According to Natural Stat Trick, in the 18:25 that Chychrun and Carlson played together at five-on-five Wednesday, the Capitals had 21 shot attempts and allowed 17. That’s high-event hockey, but the risk may be worth it — Washington produced 11 scoring chances to New Jersey’s five in the pair’s minutes.
New fourth line gets to work
Skating as the second line Wednesday but expected to be Washington’s fourth line in the regular season, center Nic Dowd’s group with Duhaime and Taylor Raddysh found success in its first competitive action. Dowd’s hard-nosed identity meshes well with his new wingers, who are committed forecheckers and have the speed to quickly transition up the ice when they get the puck.
“Both really, really fast, highly talented players,” Dowd said Wednesday morning. “For me, it’s been really nice. As a centerman, I find myself getting stuck down in the [defensive] zone a lot on breakouts, so having two guys that can get up the ice with a lot of speed is going to make a big difference for our game as a line.”
The workmanlike trio led Washington’s forward lines in ice time and formed the core of the penalty kill, which didn’t allow a goal on two New Jersey attempts — the second of which came with Dowd in the box for tripping. The two goals they produced, though one was an empty-netter, suggest they may bring increased offensive contributions this season, which would boost a team that struggled to score for much of last year.
