Capitals Tie Devils, Finish 5th in Wales

One year after finishing in 8th place with just 73 points, the Washington Capitals earned a 3-3 tie with the New Jersey Devils to finish Season 5 with 86 points and fifth place in the Wales Conference. Washington finished the campaign with a remarkable 20-7-4 mark over the last 31 games. The club was 17-26-8 and coming off a 9-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning before reversing its fortunes.

Mikael Renberg gave the Capitals a good start in a fast-paced opening period. The goal, his 24th of the season, came from Bryan Berard and Rob Blake at 11:04. Satan tied the game for the Devils just 1:52 later with his 35th of the year from Huselius and Legwand.

Washington dominated the second period, outshooting New Jersey 15-6, but David Vyborny's tally from Radoslav Suchy and Frantisek Lukes at 0:38 was all the scoring the club could muster. Huselius made it 2-2 for the Devils from Satan at 15:30.

New Jersey carried the momentum into the final period, and the home club took its first lead of the game on Blindenbacher's goal from Lemieux and Devereaux at 4:14. This time it was the Capitals' turn to comeback, and Blake did the job from Patrick Marleau and Zigmund Palffy at 17:35. Washington dominated the overtime, registering five shots to just one by New Jersey.

Peter Skudra made 24 saves for the Capitals to move to 6-5-4. Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 38 shots for New Jersey and finished the year 32-33-6.

Washington drops to the No. 6 seed as Pittsburgh vaults from seventh to No. 2 by winning the Adams Division. The Capitals face the Florida Panthers in the first round of the playoffs.