Evan Rodrigues had a goal and an assist, and the New Jersey Devils scored three third-period goals to beat the Washington Capitals 5-2 on Thursday night in Newark, N.J.
Lenni Hameenaho and Vladislav Kolyachonok each scored in their first appearances of the season for the Devils, who have won six of their past seven games and 10 of 12. Stefan Noesen added a goal and Jack Hughes extended his point streak to seven games by scoring into an empty net.
Arseny Gritsyuk had two assists and Connor Hellebuyck made 26 saves.
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored in his third straight game and Ryan Leonard also scored for the Capitals, who had won two straight. Logan Thompson made 24 saves.
Kolyachonok, recalled Thursday from AHL affiliate Utica, gave the Devils a 3-2 lead at 6:27 of the third period when his wrist shot from the point sailed through a screen and eluded Thompson.
Moments later, Hellebuyck made a point-blank save on Cole Hutson to preserve the lead.
Noesen made it 4-2 at 17:07 when he beat the Capitals’ defensemen to a loose puck and lifted a backhand shot past Thompson. Hughes added his empty-net goal at 19:15 for the 5-2 final.
Rodrigues gave the Devils a 1-0 lead during a power play at 2:20 of the first period. He took a cross-ice pass from Timo Meier and snapped a shot into the top far corner from the right faceoff dot.
The Capitals tied it with a power-play goal of their own at 14:10. Hutson sent a pass to Leonard driving the net and he cut across the crease before lifting a backhand shot past Hellebuyck.
Defenseman Hutson has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past six games.
Dubois put the Capitals up 2-1 at 2:11 of the second period, scoring on a wrist shot from the right dot off a pass from Aliaksei Protas behind the goal line.
Hameenaho tied it 2-2 at 9:51 when Brenden Dillon’s point shot deflected off him and past Thompson.
