An Afternoon Dud By the Devils Defense and Jake Allen Gives Them 4-2 Loss to the Capitals

The New Jersey Devils suffered a 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals during an afternoon matchup on Saturday. New Jersey opened the scoring on a power-play goal from Arseny Gritsyuk, but the Capitals took control with goals from Ryan Leonard, Ilya Protas, Dylan Strome, and Boone Jenner. Devils goaltender Jake Allen conceded four goals before Timo Meier added a late consolation power-play goal for New Jersey with 18 seconds remaining.

Writer Chris Fieldhouse criticized head coach Sheldon Keefe for failing to replace Allen in goal as New Jersey struggled defensively. Fieldhouse also argued that Jesper Bratt and Evan Rodrigues should be removed from the Devils' top power-play unit in favor of better shooting threats like Timo Meier or Arseny Gritsyuk.