Caps stage late rally to pick up point, but fall on Hischier’s second goal of game in overtime

The Caps shook off a listless start against the Devils on Sunday, rallying from two goals down to scrape a point out of a game in which they didn’t display much in the way of cohension or crispness. But after tying the game at 3-3 with a pair of late goals in the third, Washington dropped its seventh straight overtime decision when Nico Hischier scored the game-winner at 2:56 of overtime to give the Devils a 4-3 victory.
Hischier’s game-winning goal – his second tally of the game – came about a minute after Lars Eller had a chance to win it for Washington. Conor Sheary made a good wall play to set up Eller for a one-on-one look from the slot, but Eller was unable to tame the rolling puck, and it sailed over the net instead.

“It stood up on me,” laments Eller, “so I over-placed it more than I would have liked to. I was trying to go high glove, but it was hard to control it once it stood up.”

Had they been able put together a better start, the Caps might have been able to author a better outcome. But New Jersey got an early jump on them, and Washington spent most of the afternoon chasing the game.

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a late short-handed goal in his return from an 18-day absence to put the Washington Capitals ahead for good in a 5-3 victory over the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night.

Kuznetsov converted on a crafty wrist shot from a tight angle to help the Capitals beat the Predators for the first time in nine games, a streak dating to 2017.

It was his 10th goal of the season and his first since he was reactivated from the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol earlier Wednesday.

“I was able to skate a couple days (before the game),” Kuznetosov said. “But it was more important to be safe as a team. And we have families home.”

John Carlson also scored and had three assists for Washington, which stormed to a 3-0 lead in the first period before giving it all back inside the opening eight minutes of the second.