The New Jersey Devils returned from their Holiday Break to take on Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in a key intradivisional matchup. While the Devils played well, a few costly mistakes — and some recurring issues — dug their grave as they fell 4-3 in overtime, their third straight loss. They finish the month of December with a 1-6-1 home record.
Related: Chychrun the OT Hero as Capitals Take Down Devils 4-3
First Period a Microcosm of Recent Woes
The Devils played a very solid first period, but as has been the case recently: they struggled to finish. They were held scoreless in the frame despite generating nine scoring chances and 1.06 expected goals, according to Natural Stat Trick.
To make matters worse, the Devils at least looked like they were going to hold the Caps scoreless as well. That is, until a defensive breakdown led to a picturesque redirection for Aliaksei Protas with 0.4 seconds remaining…and a 1-0 deficit for the Devils.
That marked the ninth time in 12 contests that the Devils allowed the first goal. It’s not for a lack of process; in those 12 games, they’ve cumulatively out chanced their opponents 87-70 in the first period — and only got out chanced themselves in three of those 12. That shows it’s almost exclusively a finishing issue.
Including 1.23 below expected at 5v5 tonight, they’ve scored 15.62 goals below expected since Nov. 1.
Jesper Bratt’s Resurgence
There’s no question that Jesper Bratt is an essential piece of the puzzle for the Devils. This season, though, he’s certainly underperformed compared to previous seasons.
Coming into the night, he scored just one 5v5 goal this season — on 6.20 expected goals. His second period goal — which came at 5v5 — matched the total from his previous 124 regular season periods combined. That was his second of two goals on the night; he scored on the power play earlier — his second and third goals in a 25-game span.
“I’m sure that’s going to go a long way with him,” said head coach Sheldon Keefe. “You know, if that’s a sign of things to come, that’s very positive for us.”
Unfortunately, if you remove Bratt from the equation, the rest of the Devils team scored minus-1.09 goals below expected. It’s been two months since they’ve collectively been able to find any sort of sustainable shooting luck.
Preventable Goals Against
That first period buzzer-beater goal for Washington was entirely preventable. Jonas Siegenthaler was in first behind the net, and with 3.3 seconds to go, decided to play the puck instead of pinning it against the boards. In the blink of an eye, the puck was in the back of the net.
Siegenthaler is completely out to lunch here. Just keep the puck pinned against the boards. There were only 2 seconds left pic.twitter.com/hBl3CwUwga
— Alex Chauvancy (@AlexC_NJD) December 28, 2025
With about two and a half minutes to go in the second, Jack Hughes turned the puck over in the middle of the ice, leading to the Capitals with three men in all alone on Jake Allen. Anthony Beauvillier capitalized.
Including the heartbreaking game-winning goal against for the New York Islanders on Tuesday, that’s three goals allowed during the final 2.5 minutes of a period in these last couple games. Four if you want to count the Caps’ overtime winner, which occurred with 54 ticks remaining.
After the game, head coach Sheldon Keefe explained how the level of concern is less with the timing, and more so with the mistakes as a whole. “We don’t like the [late period goals against], but I don’t think it’s anything for us to make a big deal about. We need to just be more alert. These things happen over the course of 82 [games],” said Keefe.
That doesn’t mean he is being complacent; he spent almost a full minute of his postgame presser explaining how the mistakes added up and ultimately became the reason the team didn’t walk away with two regulation points.
Honorable Mention: Jack’s “Kick in the Ass”
Cody Glass said postgame that during the first intermission, shortly following the buzzer beater, Jack gave the team a “kick in the ass”.
“That’s all I’ll really say about it, but yeah, he gave it to us,” said Glass.
Keefe said, “If you look at some of the best responses we’ve had this year, it’s been those types of situations when the players are really leading and taking charge.”
Following said “kick in the ass”, the team responded by dominating scoring chances 17-4 in the second period. High danger chances were 8-3 in favor of the Devils. It’s got to be frustrating for a team when the process is right, but the results aren’t; they sit 14th in expected goals per 60…but 27th in actual goals.
If they have any plans of climbing back into the race and making a run, they need a true finisher. Out of all the regulars in the forward group, only Jack, Connor Brown, Cody Glass and Arseny Gritsyuk have finished chances at a rate above league average.
Moving Forward
The Devils — now 20-16-2 — will try to snap their three-game skid as they head north to face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 30.
