New Jersey DevilsNJD 1–2 Final Washington CapitalsWSH

Friday, March 20, 2026

Final	1st	2nd	3rd	T	SOG
New Jersey DevilsNJD	0	0	1	1	31
Washington CapitalsWSH	1	0	1	2	28

Playoff odds, %	Change
WSH	+1.4
NJD	-0.3

How the result moved each team's playoff odds, calculated Mar 20, 2026 6:54 PM EDT.

Highlights

Scoring

1st Period
9:36	WSH	Ryan Leonard (15) Brandon Duhaime (4), Trevor van Riemsdyk (9) · snap xG 0.07	0–1 ▶
2nd Period
No scoring
3rd Period
18:17	WSH	Aliaksei Protas (23)EN Pierre-Luc Dubois (5), Tom Wilson (27) · wrist xG 0.56	0–2 ▶
19:17	NJD	Jesper Bratt (17) Jack Hughes (37) · snap xG 0.16	1–2 ▶

Score away–home after each goal; season totals in parentheses.

Shot quality

Expected goals (xG) rate every unblocked shot by how often shots like it go in, from where it was taken, the shot type, the strength and what happened just before it. How it works

NJD 54%Deserve to win46% WSH

NJD		WSH
2.89	Expected goals	3.47
1	Goals (no shootout)	2
1.81	Expected goals, 5 on 5	2.34
68	Shot attempts	55
53	Unblocked attempts	41
31	Shots on goal	28

Game notes

What stood out as the game went on, from the play-by-play and the shifts. Time on the bench is counted in 5-on-5 play outside the penalty box; the note says the player sat, not why. Goals saved are against the shots' expected goals (xG).

3rd Period
5:32	NJD	Deserve to win	Deserve to win · NJD takes the lead, 60–40% WSH had led since 18:01 of the 1st, by as much as 77%
5:32	WSH	Goalie	Goalie · Thompson +2.0 goals saved 0 goals on 2.01 xG, 20 shots on goal
6:40	NJD	xG swing	xG swing · Out-chanced WSH 1.34–0.24 In xG over 10 minutes, 16:40 of the 2nd to 6:40 of the 3rd; neither team scored
17:56	NJD	Pulled goalie	Pulled goalie · Pulled Allen, down 1–0 With 2:04 left; WSH scored at 18:17 of the 3rd (0–2)
18:00	NJD	Shortened bench	Shortened bench · 3 forwards sat Cotter, Tsyplakov and Bjugstad: no shift after 4:44 of the 3rd

Shot map

NJD shoots ←Bigger circle: higher xG; filled: goal→ WSH shoots

About these numbers

xG comes from hockeystats.io's own model, a gradient-boosted tree model trained on every unblocked shot from the 2021-22 to 2025-26 regular seasons using the NHL's public play-by-play. Each shot's value is the share of similar shots that became goals. A team's xG is the sum over its shots; "deserve to win" asks how often the team would outscore its opponent if every shot went in at exactly that rate. Blocked shots count as attempts but have no xG (the NHL records where they were blocked, not where they were taken), so the map leaves them out.

Box score

New Jersey Devils

	Skater	G	A	P	+/−	Att	xG	Hit	Blk	TOI
Forwards
86	Jack Hughes	0	1	1	0	8	0.23	0	0	26:18
16	Connor Brown	0	0	0	0	7	0.44	1	0	23:04
13	Nico Hischier	0	0	0	0	5	0.65	0	0	21:15
63	Jesper Bratt	1	0	1	0	5	0.31	0	0	20:04
28	Timo Meier	0	0	0	+1	3	0.04	1	0	18:41
91	Dawson Mercer	0	0	0	0	4	0.29	1	1	15:37
81	Arseny Gritsyuk	0	0	0	-1	7	0.31	2	0	15:09
12	Cody Glass	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	1	0	12:22
29	Lenni Hameenaho	0	0	0	-1	4	0.10	0	0	11:21
72	Maxim Tsyplakov	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	1	0	06:59
47	Paul Cotter	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	06:55
72	Nick Bjugstad	0	0	0	0	1	0.05	2	0	06:49
Defense
43	Luke Hughes	0	0	0	-1	3	0.07	1	1	23:51
7	Dougie Hamilton	0	0	0	+1	6	0.17	2	1	23:37
71	Simon Nemec	0	0	0	-2	7	0.14	0	4	20:32
5	Brenden Dillon	0	0	0	-1	2	0.02	4	2	16:18
71	Jonas Siegenthaler	0	0	0	0	2	0.02	0	3	15:37
8	Johnathan Kovacevic	0	0	0	0	4	0.05	2	2	15:10

Goalie	SA	GA	SV	SV%	xGA	GSAx
Jake Allen	27	1	26	.963	2.66	+1.66

Washington Capitals

	Skater	G	A	P	+/−	Att	xG	Hit	Blk	TOI
Forwards
21	Aliaksei Protas	1	0	1	+1	7	0.84	0	0	18:15
72	Anthony Beauvillier	0	0	0	0	8	0.47	2	0	17:49
80	Pierre-Luc Dubois	0	1	1	+1	3	0.06	0	0	17:24
43	Tom Wilson	0	1	1	+1	4	0.03	3	2	17:21
77	Connor McMichael	0	0	0	-1	3	0.40	0	0	16:16
34	Justin Sourdif	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	1	2	14:51
17	Dylan Strome	0	0	0	0	3	0.07	0	1	14:10
9	Ryan Leonard	1	0	1	0	3	0.27	1	1	14:08
8	Alex Ovechkin	0	0	0	0	5	0.30	0	0	13:29
24	Brandon Duhaime	0	1	1	+1	5	0.37	1	0	11:51
53	Ethen Frank	0	0	0	0	2	0.37	1	0	11:23
22	Hendrix Lapierre	0	0	0	+1	1	0.00	0	0	11:02
Defense
6	Jakob Chychrun	0	0	0	0	4	0.08	0	1	21:46
42	Martin Fehérváry	0	0	0	+1	0	0.00	2	0	21:22
3	Matt Roy	0	0	0	0	1	0.01	1	1	19:56
38	Rasmus Sandin	0	0	0	+1	1	0.00	1	2	19:14
57	Trevor van Riemsdyk	0	1	1	0	2	0.10	0	1	18:47
44	Cole Hutson	0	0	0	0	3	0.10	4	0	17:04

Goalie	SA	GA	SV	SV%	xGA	GSAx
Logan Thompson	31	1	30	.968	2.89	+1.89

Skaters by time on ice. Goalie lines count shots with the goalie in net, from the NHL play-by-play.

Player ratings

What each player added to the result, in goals, from most to least. Hover a number for what it's made of.

New Jersey Devils

Player	Rating	Points	Shots	On ice	Pen	FO	Other	GSAx	TOI
34 Jake Allen G	+1.66	0.00	—	—	0.00	—	—	+1.66	58:21
13 Nico Hischier C	+0.84	0.00	+0.42	+0.41	0.00	+0.01	0.00	—	21:15
63 Jesper Bratt L	+0.73	+0.75	+0.20	-0.26	0.00	0.00	+0.04	—	20:04
91 Dawson Mercer C	+0.52	0.00	+0.19	+0.29	0.00	0.00	+0.05	—	15:37
71 Jonas Siegenthaler D	+0.44	0.00	+0.02	+0.29	0.00	0.00	+0.13	—	15:37
17 Simon Nemec D	+0.38	0.00	+0.09	+0.16	0.00	0.00	+0.12	—	20:32
28 Timo Meier R	+0.28	0.00	+0.02	+0.28	0.00	0.00	-0.02	—	18:41
86 Jack Hughes C	+0.16	+0.70	+0.15	-0.65	0.00	-0.01	-0.04	—	26:18
7 Dougie Hamilton D	-0.07	0.00	+0.11	-0.20	0.00	0.00	+0.03	—	23:37
81 Arseny Gritsyuk R	-0.08	0.00	+0.20	-0.43	+0.15	0.00	0.00	—	15:09
47 Paul Cotter L	-0.12	0.00	0.00	-0.14	0.00	+0.02	0.00	—	6:55
29 Lenni Hameenaho R	-0.12	0.00	+0.07	-0.34	+0.15	0.00	0.00	—	11:21
16 Connor Brown R	-0.12	0.00	+0.29	-0.41	0.00	0.00	0.00	—	23:04
43 Luke Hughes D	-0.20	0.00	+0.04	-0.23	0.00	0.00	-0.01	—	23:51
72 Nick Bjugstad C	-0.24	0.00	+0.03	-0.24	0.00	-0.03	0.00	—	6:49
42 Maxim Tsyplakov R	-0.24	0.00	0.00	-0.24	0.00	0.00	0.00	—	6:59
12 Cody Glass C	-0.50	0.00	0.00	-0.47	0.00	-0.01	-0.02	—	12:22
8 Johnathan Kovacevic D	-0.60	0.00	+0.03	-0.59	-0.15	0.00	+0.10	—	15:10
5 Brenden Dillon D	-0.81	0.00	+0.01	-0.90	0.00	0.00	+0.08	—	16:18

Washington Capitals

Player	Rating	Points	Shots	On ice	Pen	FO	Other	GSAx	TOI
48 Logan Thompson G	+1.89	0.00	—	—	0.00	—	—	+1.89	59:52
22 Brandon Duhaime L	+1.61	+0.70	+0.24	+0.69	0.00	0.00	-0.02	—	11:51
21 Aliaksei Protas L	+1.30	+0.75	+0.55	+0.04	0.00	0.00	-0.04	—	18:15
57 Trevor van Riemsdyk D	+1.17	+0.55	+0.06	+0.56	0.00	0.00	-0.01	—	18:47
9 Ryan Leonard R	+1.12	+0.75	+0.18	+0.17	0.00	0.00	+0.03	—	14:08
29 Hendrix Lapierre C	+1.00	0.00	0.00	+1.01	0.00	-0.01	0.00	—	11:02
6 Jakob Chychrun D	+0.84	0.00	+0.05	+0.78	0.00	0.00	+0.01	—	21:46
38 Rasmus Sandin D	+0.81	0.00	0.00	+0.73	0.00	0.00	+0.08	—	19:14
80 Pierre-Luc Dubois C	+0.66	+0.70	+0.04	-0.09	0.00	+0.03	-0.02	—	17:24
53 Ethen Frank R	+0.60	0.00	+0.24	+0.51	-0.15	0.00	0.00	—	11:23
8 Alex Ovechkin L	+0.49	0.00	+0.19	+0.30	0.00	0.00	0.00	—	13:29
43 Tom Wilson R	+0.49	+0.55	+0.02	+0.01	-0.15	0.00	+0.06	—	17:21
17 Dylan Strome C	+0.37	0.00	+0.05	+0.31	0.00	-0.01	+0.03	—	14:10
24 Connor McMichael L	+0.31	0.00	+0.26	+0.01	0.00	+0.02	+0.02	—	16:16
72 Anthony Beauvillier R	+0.21	0.00	+0.30	-0.26	+0.15	+0.02	0.00	—	17:49
3 Matt Roy D	-0.08	0.00	+0.01	-0.14	0.00	0.00	+0.05	—	19:56
42 Martin Fehérváry D	-0.14	0.00	0.00	-0.14	0.00	0.00	0.00	—	21:22
44 Cole Hutson D	-0.22	0.00	+0.06	-0.26	0.00	0.00	-0.02	—	17:04
34 Justin Sourdif C	-0.48	0.00	0.00	-0.55	0.00	-0.03	+0.10	—	14:51

An expected-goals take on Dom Luszczyszyn's Game Score: goals and assists, the quality of a player's own shots, shot quality for and against while they were on the ice at 5v5, penalties, faceoffs and puck plays, all in goals; goalies by goals saved above expected. From the NHL play-by-play and shift charts.