Ryan Leonard scored a highlight-reel goal as the Washington Capitals beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Ilya Protas, Dylan Strome and Boone Jenner also scored and Vincent Desharnais had two assists for the Capitals, who have won back-to-back games.
Arsenal Gritsyuk and Timo Meier scored for the Devils, who dropped to 4-4-0.
The Devils got on the board first roughly halfway through the first period, when Gritsyuk beat Logan Thompson through traffic at the end of New Jersey’s second power play of the period.
With 3:18 to go in the first, though, Leonard evened the score and changed the momentum with his spectacular goal. In the final seconds of Washington’s power play, Leonard took the puck up ice himself, going coast to coast before beating Luke Hughes, cutting to the inside and deking Jake Allen for his third goal of the season.
From there, the Capitals took over, starting with back-to-back goals in a span of 4 minutes, 46 seconds to open the second period. First Protas buried a cross-zone feed from Alex Ovechkin to give Washington the 2-1 lead. Then Strome finished off a passing play from Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou to put Washington up by two.
Later in the frame, Jenner tucked in a point drive that bounced to the front for his fourth goal in five games, extending the lead to 4-1 going into the third.
New Jersey pushed hard in the third and pulled within two late when Meier scored with 18.4 seconds to go in regulation, but otherwise Thompson shut the Devils down with 29 saves on 31 shots.
Allen had 21 saves for New Jersey.
Up next
Capitals: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
Devils: Return home to face the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
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