By Ray Van Horn, Jr. Copyright 1999
 

Devils roster

Fresh off of a 5-1 drubbing of the Atlanta Thrashers the prior evening, the Devils came into MCI Arena poised for a hard hitting affair. What they didn't count on was a stoic all-around performance by Washington.

Amidst the bone-crunching hits, hip checks and forechecking, the Capitals dished out as much as they received and created numerous scoring opportunities for themselves. They drew first blood at 11:17 of the first period on a power play stuffer by Adam Oates.

Oates beat New Jersey netminder, Martin Brodeur, after intercepting a wide shot off of the boards. The Capitals were previously 1 for 23 on their last 24 power play opportunities at home. Assists went to Dmitri Mironov and Calle Johansson (his 6th point in his last seven games).

As Claude Lemieux led the checking attack for New Jersey, the Capitals matched them in the trenches, inflaming a major scrum in the last minute of the period that began with a scuffle between Adam Oates and Scott Gomez, and ended with a dukeout between Jamie Huscroft and Scott Stevens.

New Jersey seized the lead on a pair of second period goals. Jason Arnott scored at 5:31 on a beautiful spin pass by Petr Sykora. The goal was set up by Patrik Elias, who fought off Dmitri Mironov along the boards.

The Devils went up 2-1 at 10:06 on a Randy McKay tapper. Ace rookie Scott Gomez and Brian Rafalski each picked up assists.

Dmitri Mironov tied the game for Washington at 11:22 of the second on a blaster past a stumbling Martin Brodeur directly from a face off won by the Capitals. It was Mironov's first red-lighter of the season.

The Capitals immediately attacked Brodeur again in the third period, leading to a Ken Klee wrister at 2:52, and giving them a 3-2 lead that was iced by a James Black empty netter in the waning seconds of the game.

Olaf Kolzig was particularly strong for Washington in net, sprawling and juking for 32 saves, including a gave-preserving split save at the end of a New Jersey power play.

The Capitals improved to 6-8-2 on the year, while the Devils dropped to 9-6-2.