New Jersey Devils at Washington Capitals

Tatar has goal and assist as Devils beat Capitals 3-2

Brenden Dillon and Dougie Hamilton also scored for New Jersey, which began the day tied for first with Carolina in the Metropolitan Division. Jake Allen made 23 saves, including a game-saving glove stop on Connor McMichael late in the third, and has now won three of his last four starts to improve to 5-2-1 on the season.

Matt Roy and McMichael scored for the Capitals, who have lost back-to-back games for the first time this season as they continue to adapt to a new reality without captain Alex Ovechkin. Charlie Lindgren stopped 30 shots in the loss to fall to 5-5-0.

Takeaways Devils: The Devils continue to surge on the power play, going 2 for 5 in the win. New Jersey now has seven power-play goals in the last four games and ranks second in the NHL in power-play percentage (31.4).

Capitals: Washington is struggling to find offense with Ovechkin out for the next four to six weeks. Before Thursday, the Capitals had managed at least three goals per game in five straight outings; they've managed three total in the last two games.

Key moment On a late second-period power play, Dougie Hamilton fired a point shot off the face-off that made it past Lindgren. His second goal in two games stood as the game-winner for New Jersey.

Key stat Jesper Bratt picked up his team-leading 28th point on Hamilton's power-play goal. He has points in four of his last five games, with nine points over that span, and he's now tied for seventh in the league in scoring.

Up Next Devils host Nashville on Monday, and Capitals visit Florida to open a two-game trip.

NJ leads series 2-1