Aliaksei Protas scored the tiebreaking goal early in the second period Saturday afternoon for the host Washington Capitals, who rode a four-goal surge to a 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils.
Riley Leonard scored in the first before Dylan Strome and Boone Jenner added goals in the second for the Capitals, who have won two straight. Goaltender Logan Thompson made 29 saves.
Arseny Gritsyuk had a goal in the first and Timo Meier scored in the final minute of the third for the Devils, whose two-game winning streak ended. Goalie Jake Allen recorded 21 saves as New Jersey suffered its fourth multi-goal defeat of the season.
The Devils opened the scoring just after a power play expired at the 10:04 mark of the first, when Gritsyuk’s shot from behind the left faceoff circle clipped off Thompson and trickled into the net.
The Capitals tied the score more than six minutes later with a power-play goal fueled by Leonard’s impressive effort. Leonard took a drop pass from Jakob Chychrun in front of the Washington net, raced up the ice, weaved between the Devils’ Evan Rodrigues and Luke Hughes and shifted the puck before burying it into the right corner of the net with 3:18 left.
Protas gave the Capitals the lead for good by capping another end-to-end rush 1:16 into the second. Alex Ovechkin sent a pass beyond the reach of Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler and over the stick of Stefan Noesen to Protas, who sent a shot over Allen’s glove shoulder.
The Capitals padded the lead just 3:20 later. Strome and Jordan Kyrou exchanged the puck between the faceoff circles before Kyrou fed Strome at the edge of the crease, where the center shuffled the puck before flicking a shot over the glove of a sprawling Allen.
Jenner closed out the decisive outburst with 8:46 left in the second period. Vincent Desharnais’ shot from above the right faceoff circle glanced off the stick of Devils defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic to Jenner, who beat Allen from point-blank range.
The Devils were 0-for-3 on the power play before Meier scored a power-play tally with 17.4 seconds left in the game.