New Jersey Devils (17-22-7 41pts) v. Washington Capitals (31-11-5 67pts)
Game Recap:
In Washington the Capitals would play their last home game before they take their Bye Week to enter the NHL All Star Break as they play host to the New Jersey Devils. In the first period the Capitals would think they would get the first goal of the game on a Carl Hagelin tally, but after a Coach’s Challenge the goal would be overturned due to the play being offsides. The Capitals would bounce back though as they would get a five on three powerplay opportunity that would Alex Ovechkin net his 29th of the season to take the 1-0 lead, then with less than a minute left in the period Ovechkin would net his second of the game and 30th of the season to give the Capitals the two goal lead heading into the first intermission.
In the second period the Devils would start the period with Cory Schneider in net to replace Louis Domingue (who would leave the game due to a lower body injury), but it would not be a good start for Schneider as Hagelin would get his goal back with the first shot of the period 16 seconds into the second to give the Capitals the three goal lead. However, less than a minute later the Devils would respond as Wayne Simmonds would net his fifth of the season to cut the Capitals lead back to two. The Devils would get a pair of powerplays, but would be unable to shrink their deficit anymore than it was, but they would hold the Capitals off the board when they would get an extended powerplay due to a Sami Vatanen double minor for high sticking.
In the third period the Capitals would get an early powerplay, but Blake Coleman would strike with the shorthanded tally for his 19th of the season, and to cut the Devils deficit to one. However, after dodging a bullet with a potential high stick call that got overturned after a review, Tom Wilson would feed Ovechkin as he would net his third of the game to complete the hat trick and give the Capitals the 5-2 victory.
Lineups:
New Jersey Devils:
Miles Wood — Nico Hischier — Jesper Bratt
Blake Coleman — Travis Zajac — Nikita Gusev
Pavel Zacha — Jack Hughes — Wayne Simmonds
Jesper Boqvist — Michael McLeod — John Hayden
Andy Greene — P.K. Subban
Damon Severson — Sami Vatanen
Will Butcher — Mirco Mueller
Louis Domingue
Cory Schneider
Scratched: Connor Carrick, Kevin Rooney
Injured: Ben Street (upper body), Kyle Palmieri (lower body), Mackenzie Blackwood (upper body)
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana — Evgeny Kuznetsov — T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin — Lars Eller — Richard Panik
Brendan Leipsic — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Jonas Siegenthaler — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen
Michal Kempny — Radko Gudas
Ilya Samsonov
Braden Holtby
Scratched: Travis Boyd
Injured: None
First Period:
WAS Penalty – 10:42 – Tom Wilson 2 minutes for Interference
NJ Penalty – 13:39 – Travis Zajac 2 minutes for Tripping
NJ Penalty – 15:12 – John Hayden 2 minutes for Holding
WAS PPG – 15:17 – Alex Ovechkin (29) from John Carlson (44) and Nicklas Backstrom (27)
WAS Goal – 19:08 – Alex Ovechkin (30) from Nicklas Backstrom (28)
End of 1st
Second Period:
WAS Goal – :16 – Carl Hagelin (2) from Lars Eller (16) and Richard Panik (4)
NJ Goal – 1:08 – Wayne Simmonds (5) from Nico Hischier (17) and Will Butcher (13)
WAS Penalty – 3:16 – Richard Panik 2 minutes for Hooking
WAS Penalty – 13:56 – Richard Panik 2 minutes for Cross Checking
NJ Penalty – 14:36 – Sami Vatanen double minor for High Sticking
End of 2nd
Third Period:
NJ Penalty – 2:11 – Will Butcher 2 minutes for Holding
NJ SHG – 3:34 – Blake Coleman (19) from Travis Zajac (13)
WAS Goal – 6:42 – Jakub Vrana (21) from unassisted
WAS Penalty – 8:06 – Nicklas Backstrom 2 minutes for Hooking
WAS Goal – 15:42 – Alex Ovechkin (31) from Tom Wilson (19) and John Carlson (45)
End of 3rd
Next Up:
Washington (32-11-5 69pts) @ NY Islanders (28-14-4 60pts)
New Jersey (17-23-7 41pts) @ Columbus (24-16-8 56pts)
The Xperience Hockey Talk 
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