📸: Adam Marcus
The Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils squared off Thursday night for their first of two straight meetings. The typically fast-paced Metropolitan Division matchup started in New Jersey at the Prudential Center and will come to Capital One Arena on Saturday night.
Evan Rodrigues opened the scoring with an early power-play snipe that beat Logan Thompson over his right shoulder. Ryan Leonard responded with a PPG of his own later in the first period, finishing off a fine feed from Cole Hutson.
Pierre-Luc Dubois put the Capitals in front in the second period, but Lenni Hameenaho responded with a deflection to tie the game back up. Vladislav Kolyachonok scored his first of the season early in the final frame. Stefan Noesen added an insurance marker with a slick backhand late in the third. Jack Hughes pots the empty-netter.
Devils beat Capitals 5-2.
The first 5-8 minutes of this game looked like a pure disaster for the Capitals as the Devils were absolutely buzzing in the offensive zone and not letting the Caps spend any worthwhile time past center ice. Luckily, Washington eventually grabbed a hold of the game after a shift from Pierre-Luc Dubois’ line drew a penalty, and the momentum started to tilt the other way. I’m still really not loving how the Capitals look defensively for long stretches of games, though. The man-to-man setup has been simply torn apart way, way, way too many times.
Spencer Carbery did some heavy line shuffling for this game after a truly poor five-on-five showing against the Ottawa Senators. I’m not sure how I feel about them, but I like how Carbery isn’t afraid to quickly get away from what was clearly not working.
Cole Hutson picked up where he left off, deftly feeding Ryan Leonard for the game-tying marker in the first period. Hutson now has seven points (3g, 4a) in his last six games, and Leonard now leads the Capitals with three power-play goals. Hutson’s 12 points lead rookie defensemen and rank tied for second among all first-year players.
Looking like a burgeoning Calder Trophy threat thanks to his start to 2026-27, @Capitals 20-year old rookie defenceman Cole Hutson has now played 30 career NHL games. With 8 goals in those (thanks to Tuesday’s OT marker vs OTT), he tied behind just 2 other blueliners on this list pic.twitter.com/5oNoPNhW2N
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) November 12, 2026
I thought the Capitals were much better overall in the second period, despite leaving the frame with the score tied again. The ice looked terrible in New Jersey, and without a few rough bounces, I think they score one or two more goals in that period. At the very least, they were much better in their own end. Jack Hughes hit the post on New Jersey’s best chance after a breakdown, but other than that, I couldn’t complain.
I really want to see the replay on that too-many-men call. The puck was deep in the Capitals’ end, and Justin Sourdif had it with no one around him. Carbery and the bench seemed very confused.
Tom Wilson definitely heard that whistle before shooting the puck at Connor Hellebuyck. He was just mad that the referees missed a call seconds earlier when he drove the net, and it’s not like anyone on the Devils can really do much to him anyway. Wilson seemed to be in an ornery mood overall. He needs a bounce to go his way badly.
Ryan Leonard drew another penalty. If the NHL’s stats page wasn’t completely broken right now, I would let you know how many he has drawn total this season. I believe it’s in the double digits now.
Super low-event third period. Normally, that would favor the Capitals. Not so much tonight.
Gotta love the referees ignoring a blatant delay-of-game penalty on Jesper Bratt, then the Devils scoring the go-ahead goal right after. They were guessing on calls throughout this game. I think Cole Caufield said something recently about wanting the refs to have to answer questions postgame about their decisions. I could get with that.
Definitely need Logan Thompson to find a stop on the third and fourth New Jersey goals. He just looks bizarrely not confident right now.
The Capitals and Devils renew their acquaintance in just two days in DC, with the Caps looking to immediately avenge a tough loss.