Everything goes wrong in the Caps-Devils rematch

The New Jersey Devils upset the Washington Capitals to sweep the home-and-home series. This game had it all: a field goal, a bloodless double minor for high stick, the kind of own goal that gets (this joke was removed for insensitivity), and an Alex Ovechkin backcheck.

It was a busy first period. Pierre-Luc Dubois was the beneficiary of a brilliant chip pass and a loose puck. Lenni Hameenaho equalized from the rush three minutes later. Devils goalie Connor Hellebuyck overplayed a Ryan Leonard shot, then Connor Brown scored a controversial power play goal. Late in the period, Anthony Beauvillier won a fight in the crease to give the Caps a 3-2 lead after one period.

The middle period was bad hockey with two goals, both coming from New Jersey. Jesper Boqvist may have been helped to score by Tom Wilson crashing into Charlie Lindgren. Then, Timo Meier received a few hits on the power play to give the Devils the lead with one period to play.

Nico Hischier scored a shorthanded goal to make it 5-3 for the Devils early in the third period. Ilya Protas partially redeemed the PP with a sharp angle shot. Evan Rodrigues scored with a freak rebound off Timothy Liljegren. The Caps pushed hard in the rest of the match but were unable to close the gap. Rodrigues scored a second goal against an empty net.

The Devils beat the Caps 7-4.

• Curse game. A hell of a game. Ragebait game. Nightmare for goalkeeping play. Officials’ malpractice game.
• For example, consider this: Three times the broadcast showed New Jersey Devils players reacting to their goals, and the look on their faces was, “Can you believe that worked?” » Yeah, man, I can. It’s the curse game, the hell game, etc. I literally just said that.
• Connor Brown threw a puck, but due to the vagaries of NHL officiating, it withstood scrutiny. I admit there’s something esoteric I don’t understand, but to me this is the most egregious Kick I’ve seen since an incel named Femoral ran over a golden retriever in his Land Rover while playing on an IRL stream.
• The Devils have five ex-Caps on their squad. Connor Brown, Jonas Siegenthaler, Declan Chisholm of the Newport Chisholms, Anthony Mantha (out with injury) and Brenden Dillon. Every nuance of opinion you can have about an ex-Cap is in this list, including “Oh yeah, I forgot he played for the Caps” and “Oh yeah, I forgot Zdeno Chara played for the Caps, so they had to trade him.” »
• I’m going to get cranky about the Caps defense in a moment, but let’s give a second for the power play, which has given Jersey a weird rush – with Alex Ovechkin the only returning man, that’s really where you like to see Alex Ovechkin in 2026. Charlie Lindgren had to activate his cyberpunk boost Kerenzikov to save the goal.

• But it was in their own zone that the Capitals were the most atrosh. It seems to me that Matt Roy, who is Washington’s best defensive defender, is the only guy suited to the man-to-man style.
• Ryan Leonard I got a double minor for Cody Glass. He owes the PKers a thank you card. I think he was left out of some teams after that, but he still had an impact: a goal before the penalty and a penalty after.
• Timothy Liljegren. I drank as much as I needed.

• Pierre-Luc Dubois is on a four-game goal streak.
• Happiest birthday to my idol, Joe Beninati. Forty years or whatever, it suits you perfectly.

I’m coming to you with the paisley tie like BAM #joebsuitofthenight

– Good Skeet Pete (@peterhassett.net) 2026-11-15T00:02:49.635Z

With Logan Thompson not quite his elite this fall, Saturday’s game was an opportunity for Charlie Lindgren to step up his efforts. I could say “nothing he couldn’t do” about Liljegren’s spot kick or own goal, but at some point the excuses pile up too much. The fact is that Lindgren needed to step in and didn’t.

I would say it was an unlucky play, but that would suggest I wasn’t extremely frustrated by it. I was. Everything went wrong for the Caps, deserved and not. Even an inept Caps team could have won this game if minor details had been changed – and a very good Caps team would have won it anyway. Until the Caps discovered their (bad) PP and defense (baaaaaaaaaaad), they’re going to have more nights like this.

And now, if the Iranian hackers allow it, the Caps will fly to Florida for the annual mentors’ trip, as well as a game against the Bolts, from whom Nikita Kucherov wants to escape.