The Capitals (15-6-4, 34 points) have won six of seven and are 9-2-1 in their past 12 games, but they barely escaped with this win. They had a three-goal advantage entering the third period but watched it slip away on goals by Miles Wood, Yegor Sharangovich and Damon Severson.
“We just stopped playing,” Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette said. “We went out in the third period and didn’t play with the same zip that we needed to, that we played with for two periods. It was just a lot of errors, to be honest with you. . . . We had our foot on the gas for two periods, and then we took it off.”
Forward T.J. Oshie said the Capitals started to play a “little soft.”
Washington has won its first two games without winger Tom Wilson; he has five games left in his suspension for boarding Boston defenseman Brandon Carlo on Friday. The Capitals play in Philadelphia on Thursday and Saturday before wrapping up a three-game road trip Monday at Buffalo.
Vrana played only three shifts in the third period Tuesday — all of 1:47 — but needed just six seconds on the ice to notch the winner in overtime. He has five goals in his past six games.
“I just jump on the ice and took advantage of the [defenseman],” he said. “He was kind of standing still there on the blue line. [Evgeny Kuznetsov] made a great play, making a great pass right to my tape, and yeah, I just try to outskate the ‘D’ and score.”
Vrana had given the Capitals a 2-0 cushion at 7:42 of the second period. Defenseman John Carlson, who is one shy of 500 career points, dished an impressive feed to Vrana, who sniped the puck from the right circle during four-on-four play.
“I’m trying to focus on the little things out there and try to focus on doing things right when I have the chance to shoot the puck, and they’ve been going in lately,” Vrana said as he rapped the table.
Daniel Sprong sniped one of his own on a two-on-one with captain Alex Ovechkin at 10:36 of the second. After his fourth goal in 14 games, Sprong flashed a wide grin as he was surrounded in a group hug and appeared to explain to the 714-goal scorer why he looked him off during the odd-man rush.
“I looked him off in the morning skate, and he wasn’t too happy,” Sprong said with a laugh. “Two-on-one, the D played ‘O,’ and their goalie decided to take away his side, too, so I just had to hit the middle of the net, and that’s what happened. When you go down on a two-on-one with the greatest goal scorer, I think everyone thinks that you’re going to give it to him.”
After the Devils’ Janne Kuokkanen tapped the puck in at 12:44 to make it 3-1, Dmitry Orlov capped the outburst at 15:03 by ripping a shot from the top of the right circle. It was the defenseman’s second goal in as many games and his third of the season. Orlov credited his recent success in part to his family’s arrival from Russia.
“I got a little more excited,” he said. “It was tough time to be by yourself, but now they are here and I got a little joy in my life.”
Wood started the Devils’ comeback, cutting the Capitals’ lead to two on the rush at 5:47 of the third. Sharangovich found himself wide open in the slot and scored at 10:17, and Severson got the equalizer at 12:20 with a wrist shot through traffic from the point.
Despite the third-period woes, Capitals goaltender Vitek Vanecek made 27 saves. Scott Wedgewood made 25 stops for New Jersey.
Laviolette said Tuesday morning that there was “no real plan” for the goaltending split between Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov and that the team is going “day-to-day” with its decisions in net. He hopes to get Samsonov “some more starts” after the 24-year-old’s 36-save performance Sunday in a 3-1 win at the Flyers.
“I feel like Vitek has been here for us,” Laviolette said. “He’s kind of established himself from Day One where other pieces that we’ve had in place have not been available to us. . . . Vitek’s been a guy that’s been here. He’s been reliable.”
Before the late fireworks, the Capitals’ power play got on the board for the first time in five-plus games. T.J. Oshie tipped a point shot from Justin Schultz at 17:22 of the first period to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Five of the 34-year-old’s six goals have come with the man advantage.
Nicklas Backstrom, who was honored during the game for notching his 700th assist Friday in Boston, assisted on the first two goals. He leads the Capitals with 29 points — 10 goals and 19 assists — in 25 games.
And at the end, Vrana’s winner made sure the game was memorable for the right reasons.
“It’s definitely nice,” Oshie said, “to get the two points on a night where it’s probably a learning experience for us.”