The Washington Capitals traveled north for their first road game in 12 days, taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets in some intra-division action. The two rivals split their season series 2-2 last year and will meet four times again this season.
Despite a free-flowing, ultra-fast-paced first period, neither team got on the board. After also playing most of the second period scoreless, John Carlson finally blasted the Capitals into the lead with 1:41 remaining on the clock. Alex Ovechkin pumped his second of the season home from another offensive-zone faceoff. Justin Sourdif picked up his first Capitals goal just over a minute later.
Denton Mateychuk got the Blue Jackets on the board with 9:40 left in regulation. Tom Wilson and Connor McMichael both converted on a power play to put the Caps up 5-1.
Capitals beat Blue Jackets 5-1!
- The Blue Jackets definitely started and finished the first period better than the Capitals. I think the Caps fought back in the middle part of the frame, but they got caught way too many times on odd-man breaks. Columbus ended the first up 23-16 in five-on-five shot attempts, while scoring chances were deadlocked at 11 apiece. Blistering start.
- Trevor van Riemsdyk took a puck to the face early on and had to go right back into the team’s locker room. He did end up returning with a noticeable cut to his chin, but played just 2:03 of the opening frame.
- Nic Dowd can’t take that penalty at the end of the first period. He’s in the offensive zone with five seconds left and is never getting to that puck, even if he strips Provorov. Can’t happen.
- The second period was a complete slog compared to the first as both teams slowed things way down. The Capitals went without a shot attempt for over six minutes and just could not string two passes together. They eventually got things together at the end of the frame with a good shift from Hendrix Lapierre, Connor McMichael, and Tom Wilson.
- John Carlson scored to extend his point streak to five games, and he now has seven points (2g, 5a) in eight games this season. He’s still got it. Get to those extension talks.
- The Capitals had a power play in the second that I think was their worst of the season. They didn’t get set up in the zone a single time. I know it’s been converting recently, but I don’t like the two defenders on one unit thing. Would much prefer some more speed to help them with zone entries because Carlson, Alex Ovechkin, and Dylan Strome aren’t exactly fleet of foot.
- Jet Greaves came into this game 2-0-1 against the Capitals in his career with a 0.99 goals-against average, a .967 save percentage, and one shutout. He wasn’t nearly as impenetrable in this one, but he was still pretty good, and his name is awesome.
- Despite winning 5-1, the Capitals were not good at all in this game, but they converted their chances and got tremendous goaltending. Columbus is going to be a good team this season, so it’s not the end of the world to get outplayed by them; it’s just important not to let it become a trend. Also, at the end of the day, two points are two points.
- Alex Ovechkin scored career goal number 899 off of another faceoff play. Only 1:02 later, Justin Sourdif scored his second career goal and first with the Capitals. Almost there, Justin.
- A five-minute major penalty was doled out to Mathieu Olivier for elbowing Declan Chisholm. I think that was the right call, even if Olivier didn’t really mean to pick Chisholm’s head. Chisholm was checked out by the trainers and returned to the bench.
- Logan Thompson was unreal in the win. He also picked up his second point with the Capitals, notching the secondary assist on Sourdif’s goal.
The Capitals will return home to finish off a back-to-back against the awaiting Ottawa Senators on Saturday night. The Senators beat the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 on Thursday night.
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