Washington Capitals vs New Jersey Devils Box Score on Dec 20, 2019

Nicklas Backstrom recorded four points to give him 900 in his career and the visiting Washington Capitals defeated the New Jersey Devils 6-3 on Friday night.

Backstrom had two goals and two assists, and his 900th point came on the night he and Alex Ovechkin became the 21st set of NHL teammates to play 900 games together.

Ovechkin and John Carlson added a goal and an assist each. Jonas Siegenthaler and Richard Panik also scored, and Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves.

Kyle Palmieri scored for the third straight game for New Jersey, which was looking for its first three-game winning streak of the season. Blake Coleman and Miles Wood also scored.

Mackenzie Blackwood made 21 saves before being lifted in favor of Gilles Senn, making his NHL debut, at 8:25 of the third period.

The Devils took an early 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 4:00 of the first period when Nico Hischier's centering pass was deflected past Samsonov by Palmieri, who has four goals in his past six games.

Washington's Carl Hagelin missed a chance to tie it when his penalty shot went wide, but the Capitals took a 2-1 lead with two goals 70 seconds apart late in the period.

Ovechkin tied the score at 18:25 when he took a drop pass from Backstrom on the rush and beat Blackwood with a wrist shot from above the right circle for his 22nd goal of the season.

Backstrom gave Washington the lead at 19:35, deflecting in a shot from Carlson.

New Jersey tied the score at 4:15 of the second period when Coleman slid the puck past Samsonov to cap a two-on-one.

Backstrom made it 3-2 at 19:31 when he fed Dmitry Orlov at the point and redirected Orlov's pass in from the right of Blackwood.

Carlson made it 4-2 when he redirected a centering pass from Michal Kempny 42 seconds into the third period. Backstrom picked up an assist for career point 900.

Washington led 6-2 when New Jersey's Wood scored in the final minute.

--Field Level Media