T.J. Oshie carries Capitals past Devils

[February 22, 2021]  T.J. Oshie collected two goals and an assist to lift the host Washington Capitals to a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday afternoon.

Defenseman John Carlson had one of each and captain Alex Ovechkin added his 712th career goal for the Capitals, who went 3-for-4 on the power play. Craig Anderson made 23 saves to propel Washington to its third win in its last four games.

Andreas Johnsson recorded a goal and an assist and Jack Hughes and Nikita Gusev also tallied for New Jersey, which has dropped two in a row after winning its previous three games.

Travis Zajac became the fourth member of the Devils to play in 1,000 regular-season games with the franchise on Sunday. He joined Ken Daneyko (1,283), Martin Brodeur (1,259) and Patrik Elias (1,240).

Like Anderson, New Jersey's Aaron Dell (37 saves) was making his first start of the season. Dell, in fact, was playing in his first game since last March 11 while suiting up with the San Jose Sharks.

The Devils held a 2-0 lead before Oshie ended a nine-game goal drought with a deft deflection in the high slot at 13:38 of the second period.

Carlson's wrist shot from the right circle leveled the contest at 9:16 of the third period before Oshie converted from the slot to give Washington a 3-2 lead with 8:07 remaining.

Oshie capped his three-point performance by sliding a goal-mouth feed to Ovechkin, who converted from a sharp angle for his sixth goal of the season with 3:04 to play.

New Jersey Devils center Pavel Zacha (37) skates with the puck as Washington Capitals right wing Tom Wilson (43) defends in the first period at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Gusev halved the deficit with 12 seconds remaining, but New Jersey was unable to net the equalizer.

Kyle Palmieri extended his point streak to four games by setting up Johnsson for a power-play goal to open the scoring at 9:35 of the first period. Johnsson used a brilliant spin move deep in the left circle before beating Anderson for his third goal in six games.

The Devils doubled the advantage at 3:55 of the second period after a sterling sequence from Hughes, who forced a turnover from Nic Dowd to ignite an odd-man rush. Hughes skated hard to the net and chipped a return pass from Johnsson past Anderson for his fourth goal of the season.

--Field Level Media
 

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