James Nichols
Jake Allen was a monster for the New Jersey Devils on Friday at the Capital One Arena visiting the Washington Capitals.
It’s a shame he couldn’t get the goal support.
The Devils might’ve started the first half of the low-event first period with a 3-1 shot advantage. However, it was the Capitals that found the back of the net first on the stick of Ryan Leonard.
Off the bench and skating into the Devils’ zone, Leonard found the loose puck and rifled a shot past Allen gloveside to give Washington a 1-0 lead at 9:36 of the first period.
Even with the Devils receiving two power plays in the second period, the Devils, Capitals tilt remained low event.
New Jersey didn’t register much on their man advantage, recording just two shots on goal, one on each power play.
When the third period started, head coach Sheldon Keefe ice a “break glass in case of emergency” line, sending Jack Hughes out with Nico Hischier and Timo Meier, while pairing Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec together in search for offense.
However, that nuclear option didn’t materialize the scoring opportunities Keefe had hoped, and he went back to his regular lines.
Yet, the Devils showed desperation in the third, peppering Logan Thompson with 18 shots in the final 18 minutes.
However, Thompson stood strong, and when the Devils pulled Allen, Aliaksei Protas hit the empty net to double the Washington lead.
Yet, with 41 seconds remaining in the game, Jesper Bratt scored to make it a one-goal game.
Bratt’s goal was too little too late, however, and the Devils lost a 2-1 game, which snapped their three-game win streak.
Allen made 26 saves on 27 shots, and despite the superb effort by the Devils goaltender, suffered his sixteenth loss of the season.
