{"id":562113,"date":"2026-04-03T12:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/562113\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T12:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:02:11","slug":"brutal-beatdown-by-a-team-behind-them-in-the-standings-devils-beat-capitals-7-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/562113\/","title":{"rendered":"Brutal beatdown by a team behind them in the standings: Devils beat Capitals 7-3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Capitals
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ud83d\udcf8: @majortaylor1\/X<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Washington Capitals headed into New Jersey looking to extend their winning streak to four games on Thursday night. The game was practically another must-win, as every game left on the team\u2019s schedule is.<\/p>\n

Cody Glass<\/a> and Dawson Mercer<\/a> scored two quick goals to put the Devils in front early in the first period. The Capitals responded with two quick ones of their own from Cole Hutson<\/a> and Pierre-Luc Dubois<\/a>. Dougie Hamilton<\/a> then powered a point drive past Logan Thompson<\/a> to give New Jersey a lead after 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

Jack Hughes<\/a> extended that lead with the finish on a 2-on-1 chance in the second period. Hughes then added another goal in the third. Tom Wilson<\/a> pulled the Capitals back within two soon after. Jesper Bratt<\/a>, touchdown, New Jersey. Mercer finds the empty net.<\/p>\n

Devils beat Capitals 7-3.<\/p>\n

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The Capitals have been playing some horrific defense \u201clately\u201d and just getting by with some hot shooting and goaltending. The first period was another example of that, although the goaltending couldn\u2019t get them out of that one. Spencer Carbery employs a man-to-man defensive-zone system, and it drives me insane, and I don\u2019t know why I haven\u2019t written more about it. Very few teams in today\u2019s NHL do the same, and there\u2019s a good reason for it. Watch the absolute mess that is the Capitals trying to defend New Jersey\u2019s three goals in that period, and you\u2019ll understand why.
\nReally good to see Cole Hutson<\/a> leading the way offensively in the first period, scoring his second career goal and sparking other dangerous chances. Would really like to see him leaned on more instead of Rasmus Sandin<\/a> and Martin Fehervary<\/a> getting sent out every other shift and giving up 658 goals. That pairing has not worked for a few weeks now, yet the Capitals\u2019 coaching staff keeps going back to it.
\nI\u2019m in a bad mood tonight, so jumping online to learn that this was an ESPN+ only game didn\u2019t help. Just means we get a later start for exactly zero reason, and elementary coverage that no one wants from people who watch the Capitals maybe a handful of times each season. If they put an ounce of effort into covering these games, maybe I\u2019d feel different, but it feels like ESPN treats the NHL more like a requirement than an opportunity.<\/p>\n

The Capitals were certainly better in the second period, but they lost their shooting touch and then got burned on New Jersey\u2019s one lone big chance in the frame. I would have pulled Logan Thompson<\/a> after he allowed that goal. Even though you can\u2019t say he was bad in this game, it didn\u2019t seem like he was seeing the puck all too well.
\nJakob Chychrun<\/a> getting lost in no-man\u2019s-land helped the Devils coast to their goal in the second. I thought Chychrun was brutal the entire game. Just falling all over himself, whiffing on every puck fed to him, slow, etc. He hasn\u2019t been great since play resumed after the Olympics.
\nAnother guy who has just not had it recently and pretty much the entire season is Dylan Strome<\/a>. Plays were just dying on his stick left and right throughout this game. More than a little concerned about his year.
\nI really don\u2019t love the mix the Capitals have down the middle overall. Feels like they need to reassess that position this summer. Strome, Pierre-Luc Dubois<\/a>, and the incoming Ilya Protas aren\u2019t exactly fleet of foot, and it\u2019s tough to play teams in today\u2019s NHL when your center is getting lapped around the ice every other shift. The team has been saying they need an injection of speed for like three years at this point, though, and they just keep pushing that addition back every season, so who knows. Maybe by 2035.<\/p>\n

The lack of meaningful in-game adjustments from the coaching staff has killed me this season. No, sitting Hendrix Lapierre<\/a> and constantly putting Anthony Beauvillier<\/a> back with Strome and Alex Ovechkin<\/a> isn\u2019t it. What about Chychrun\u2019s game tonight would tell you he should get the first shift on that third-period power play over Hutson? Why are Fehervary and Sandin still together? Why is Ivan Miroshnichenko<\/a> riding the pine?
\nWhy did the Capitals waste draft capital to acquire David Kampf<\/a>? Who knows.
\nI don\u2019t know if you could tell, but this game was utterly frustrating for me to watch. It\u2019s clear there are many good things about this team, but there may be more glaringly bad things. Those bad things have been covered up by puck luck lately, which I\u2019ve been constantly harping on in my morning numbers posts. I think a ton needs to change in the summer. This was supposed to be the step-forward year, and it feels like a two-step-backward year.<\/p>\n

No Joe B or Locker tonight, so here\u2019s this photo the Capitals posted of Miro.<\/p>\n

The Capitals will be back at home on Saturday when they\u2019ll host the Buffalo Sabres. I don\u2019t buy into the Sabres hype. That\u2019s a winnable hockey game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udcf8: @majortaylor1\/X The Washington Capitals headed into New Jersey looking to extend their winning streak to four games…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-562113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}