Hellebuyck Makes 43 Saves as Devils Defeat Capitals 7-4

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 43 shots and the New Jersey Devils defeated the Washington Capitals 7-4 on Saturday night.

The victory gave the surging Devils their second win against Washington in three days. New Jersey improved to 11-2 since Oct. 20 with its seventh victory in eight games.

Evan Rodrigues scored twice for the Devils, while Jesper Boqvist, Connor Brown and Lenni Hameenaho each contributed a goal and two assists. Defenseman Luke Hughes added three assists, and Nico Hischier and Timo Meier also scored.

Meier gave the Devils their first lead at 4-3 with a power-play goal late in the second period. Hischier then pushed the advantage to 5-3 early in the third with a short-handed goal.

Hellebuyck recovered from a shaky start that saw him give up three goals in the first period. The three-time Vezina Trophy winner and 2025 NHL MVP has won all seven of his starts with New Jersey since being traded by the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 23.

Washington held a 3-2 lead after a frantic first period behind goals from Ilya Protas, Anthony Beauvillier, Ryan Leonard and Pierre-Luc Dubois. Charlie Lindgren stopped 26 of 32 shots for the Capitals.

Connor hellebuyck usa during the winter olympic games milano cortina at the milano santagiulia iho arena on february in milan

New Jersey’s sixth goal came on a fluky play when Rodrigues sent a centering pass that bounced off the skate of Capitals defenseman Timothy Liljegren and past the goal line. Rodrigues added an empty-netter with 3:15 left in regulation.

The Capitals killed a four-minute high-sticking penalty against Leonard midway through the second period to preserve their one-goal lead at the time, but could not sustain that momentum as Boqvist tied the game at 10:33.

The Devils host the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night, while the Capitals visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.