New Jersey rolls to eighth straight win, tops in NHL this season.

Parise’s breakaway leads Devils to 8th win in row

NEWARK, N.J. — Zach Parise’s breakaway highlighted a three-goal second period and the New Jersey Devils won their eighth straight game with a 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday night.

Jamie Langenbrunner and rookie Matt Halischuk also scored in the second as the Devils rallied from an early two-goal deficit to beat the Capitals for the third time in three games this season.

Defenseman Colin White and Cory Murphy also scored and Martin Brodeur had 27 saves as New Jersey ended the Capitals’ four-game winning streak.

Tomas Fleischmann and Mathieu Perreault scored in the opening 5:02 for Washington, but it was all New Jersey after that. The Devils scored five goals on 23 shots.

The Capitals played their sixth straight game without two-time NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin, who sat out again because of an upper-body injury. He might return Tuesday in New York against the Rangers.

New Jersey’s eight consecutive wins are a league best this season. The Devils also will try to tie the NHL record for consecutive road wins to start the season when they go for their 10th straight on Monday in Philadelphia. Buffalo set the mark in 2006.

Washington had the better of the play for the opening 9 minutes, before a lucky bounce appeared to get the Devils going.

White took a cross-ice pass from Langenbrunner on a rush and his 40-foot shot appeared to deflect off the stick of Washington defenseman Brian Pothier past goalie Jose Theodore.

Down 2-1 entering the second period, the Devils dominated with the key move being coach Jacques Lemaire’s decision to put Patrik Elias on a line with Parise and Travis Zajac.

New Jersey’s power play, connecting at 30 percent over the last five games, tied it at 2-all with Langenbrunner ripping a shot from the left point past Theodore.

Parise scored his 10th goal and gave New Jersey the lead for good at 14:40, beating Theodore between the pads after taking a long pass from Zajac. The goal followed a turnover by Alexander Semin in the Devils’ end.

Halischuk netted his first NHL goal in the final minute, taking a pass from Niclas Bergfors to cap a 3-on-2 break.

Murphy scored early in the third period after Zajac won a faceoff.

The Capitals, playing for the second straight night, took a 2-0 lead when Fleischmann and Perreault scored in a 47-second span.

Fleischmann extended his career-high scoring streak to eight games, tallying on a power play at 4:15. Green sent the puck from the left circle to the left point, where Brendan Morrison found Fleischmann for his seventh goal.

It was the first power-play goal against New Jersey in eight games. The Devils had killed 20 consecutive power plays.

Perreault, who has five points since being called up six games ago, scored his second goal from between the circles after taking another pass from Green.

NOTES: Capitals RW Boyd Gordon returned after missing 13 games with a back injury. … Washington captain Chris Clark played in his 500th NHL game. … Devils rookie Tim Sestito earned his first NHL point on Halischuk’s goal. … The win was the Devils’ 1,000 in the regular season since the franchise moved to New Jersey. The team relocated from Colorado for the 1982-83 season. The Devils are 1,000-852-248.