Jack Hughes netted his first career NHL hat trick, and Vitek Vanecek made 38 saves against his former team as the New Jersey Devils defeated the Washington Capitals 5-1 on Saturday, marking coach Lindy Ruff’s 800th career victory.
“It’s exciting,” Hughes said. “I’ve had a few two-goal games, so it’s nice to get the third finally.”
Ruff became the fifth NHL coach to reach the 800-win milestone. The former Buffalo player secured 571 wins with the Sabres from 1997-2011, added 165 wins in five seasons with Dallas, and has achieved 64 victories in two-plus seasons with New Jersey.
“It means I’ve been around a long time,” Ruff joked. “Great to win the game. You’ve got to do many right things, have good teams, and the way our team is playing, I have to give them a lot of credit for getting me there.”
The Atlantic Division-leading Devils have won two consecutive games after their franchise-record 13-game winning streak was ended by Toronto.
Devils captain Nico Hischier and Fabian Zetterlund also contributed goals.
John Carlson scored for Washington, and Charlie Lindgren made 24 saves.
“We’re not scoring goals, not capitalizing on our chances,” Carlson said. We’ve had our chances, especially today, but we only walked away with one goal. We could have had five or six. It’s just not going in right now.”
Vanecek, meanwhile, was aiming for a shutout against his former team.
“That would have been nice, but that’s hockey,” Vanecek said. “You’re definitely trying, but not every time; the win is more important.”
Hischier opened the scoring with his 10th goal of the season midway through the first period on a power play after Alexander Ovechkin was called for slashing.
Hughes wrapped the puck around Lindgren’s right leg and the goal post to put the Devils up 2-0 5:59 into the second period. Hughes appeared to have lost his angle on the goal when he ripped a shot off Lindgren’s face mask and into the net midway through the period for his 10th goal of the season, giving New Jersey a 3-0 lead.
The 2019 No. 1 overall draft pick completed his hat trick midway through the third period, prompting a shower of hats onto the ice as New Jersey went up 4-0.
“You want to continue to play the right way, but if an opportunity comes, you want to definitely put it in the back of the net with authority,” Hughes said. “So tonight, I was able to cap it off and it was nice.”
Fabian Zetterlund capped the scoring for New Jersey late in the third period.
Game Notes
The Devils improved to 16-0-0 this season when Hischier records a point. New Jersey’s Nathan Bastain (upper body) did not return after the first period. Ovechkin remains nine goals away from 800 and 11 from passing Gordie Howe for second place on the NHL goals list.
UP NEXT
- Capitals: At Vancouver on Tuesday night.
- Devils: At the New York Rangers on Monday night.
