Devils 4, Capitals 3: The bleeding has stopped

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Five observations from New Jersey’s overtime victory over the Washington Capitals:

1. The bleeding has stopped

New Jersey has had a miserable time against Washington in recent years. Not that they’ve played great against everybody else; but the Capitals, in particular, have served as the Devils’ kryptonite.

To what extent, you ask? Well, the Devils entered play with a 0-9 record vs the Caps since the beginning of the 2021 season.

That’s why many used Sunday afternoon’s game as a measuring stick for the progress the Devils are making. Sure, they beat the Sabres and a paper thin Oilers team out of the break. That’s great! But how would the Devils fare against a true contender; one which has consistently gotten the better of them?

Quite well, it turns out.

The Devils lost Dougie Hamilton very early in the game. Not only is he the most impactful defender on the team, but the trickle down effect is a lot of players taking on extreme workloads.

It would have been easy and understandable to see the Devils fold, so to speak, and get overwhelmed by the Capitals. That didn’t happen.

New Jersey not only held their own in the contest but were the better team for a lot of it. The Devils controlled ~55% of the expected goals and shots on goal at 5v5.

Those are very strong numbers considering a) the opponent; b) Hamilton’s injury and; c) the Devils were playing from ahead the vast majority of the game.

The hole they’ve dug themselves is almost impossible to overcome. In other words, playoffs remain a pipe dream (they’re three points back of Boston and have played five more games). But it’s starting to look like – when healthy – they can at least be competitive the rest of the way.