Capitals get payback on Blue Jackets
The Washington Capitals were looking for a revenge game Friday and they got it.
After a long Christmas break the Washington Capitals returned to the ice on Friday night and rebounded from their tough loss to Boston with a 2-1 comeback win against a Columbus Blue Jackets team they’ve been unable to solve.
The first period featured several excellent saves by Caps netminder Ilya Samsonov while the offense was unable to dent the twine. It was scoreless after 20 with the Blue Jackets having a 9-8 shots on goal edge.
The Blue Jackets got on the board with Jakob Lilja’s first NHL goal at 9:17 in the second period. 1-0 was the score after 40 with the Caps outshooting the Blue Jackets in the middle stanza 13-8. At that point through two periods, the Caps went 0-for-2 on the man advantage.
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In the third the Caps got a power play chance but were unable to convert, however, Carl Hagelin finally netted his first goal after the power play expired at 6:13 in the third. The goal was created with Evgeny Kuznetsov getting the puck to Richard Panik in front of the net. Panik passed it between the legs to Hagelin who was next to him for the slam dunk to tie the game.
“It was a great pass. I think he’s (Panik’s) been on my side the whole time. He’s been trying to find me out there and I’ve just missed some good looks, but today it went in.”
The third period ended with a 1-1 tie guaranteeing both teams come away with a point. Shots were even at 11 in the third. At 2:18 into the extra session, Nathan Gerbe was called for hooking Lars Eller, putting the Caps on the power play. 55 seconds later, Alex Ovechkin got the puck to Nicklas Backstrom.
Backstrom shot the puck but was stopped by Joonas Korpisalo. Although Korpisalo made the initial save, the Blue Jackets netminder was unable to corral the puck and T.J. Oshie made him pay, banging it home for his 15th goal of the season.
Ilya Samsonov stopped 27-of-28 shots in the win for a .964 save percentage. It was his 10th win in 12 starts, becoming the fastest rookie in franchise history to reach 10 wins.
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The Capitals will take on the Carolina Hurricanes in the second half of a back-to-back weekend set looking to end it on a high note by going 2-0. Puck drop from Raleigh is at 7 p.m.