Capitals, Holtby Withstand Early Push Before Pulling Away in Columbus 6-3
The Washington Capitals started off slow but eventually flexed their muscle, taking advantage of Nicklas Backstrom‘s two goals and three assists by Evgeny Kuznetsov to take care of the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3.
The Blue Jackets started off with a purpose, taking it to the Caps with an early 10-1 shot advantage and striking first with Kerby Rychel scoring on a 2-on-1. That goal seemed to awaken the Caps, who later in the period tied it when Backstrom scored on a 3-on-2, a fancy passing play the top line made look easy.
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A horrendous giveaway up the middle by Defenseman Justin Falk (not that one) allowed Marcus Johansson to set Jason Chimera up for a quick strike tally to put the Caps ahead shortly after, their second goal on just four shots.
The Jackets had another push early in the second and Braden Holtby had to turn aside a few good chances. But Marcus Johansson was high sticked and bled, which meant the Caps had a four minute major. That probably wasn’t how John Tortorella drew it up on the white board.
It took Alex Ovechkin just 13 seconds into the double minor to pierce Sergei Bobrovsky. On the second leg of the power play, Kuznetsov connected with the other stud center the Capitals have, Nicklas Backstrom, for a back door tap in. Just like that, the Caps had laid waste to Nationwide Arena, with four goals on nine shots.
Boone Jenner kept the Caps within arms’ reach after a needless penalty by Ryan Stanton on a power play goal, but Andre Burakovsky crushed all hope with a wrister over Bobrovsky’s glove not even a minute later to restore a three goal lead.
The Jackets once again came out with a purpose at the beginning of the third and Ryan Murray cut the lead to 5-3. Ovechkin was tripped up on a breakaway later in the period and granted a penalty shot, but was stonewalled by Bobrovsky. Johansson put the nice, neat bow on this game with an empty netter.
It was scary to see Jason Chimera take a puck to the hand, the part with no padding, and immediately go to the locker room in the first. Knowing the Caps, Barry Trotz will say he’s “a bit dinged up” and he’ll miss 6-8 weeks. Fortunately, the rugged third liner not only returned but scored a few minutes later.
Tough debut for Caps’ defenseman Ryan Stanton, who surrendered the opposing blue line leading to the 2-on-1 and first Jackets goal by Rychel. Later in the first he left Rychel wide open in front of Holtby forcing the future Vezina Trophy winner to make a dynamite save. Then in the second he took the penalty that led to the Jenner goal, then on the third goal, well, you get the idea.
Bobrovsky hadn’t played in over a month and this seemed like an unfair welcome back to action against the Caps’ surgical attack. He stood little chance against any of those four goals he let in on the first nine shots, sure, but man those numbers are a bad look for him.
I know we all don’t want to admit this but if you were a Capital and you knew how quickly your offense could devastate Columbus, would you come out with the same intensity as them? You would like to think yes, but human nature being what it is, I get why they looked sluggish early tonight and also against the Sabres.
What if Burakovsky is getting back to where he actually looked better than Kuznetsov for much of last year? Look out for him down the stretch.
Generally speaking, the only way a team like Columbus can beat this incarnation of the Caps is to get otherworldly goaltending and hope the Caps don’t take the game seriously. It looked like the latter part of that equation might fall into place for Columbus early on, but once the Caps got going this game was men against boys.
Possession stats be damned – they don’t matter so much when defensemen neglect their assignments time and again in high danger areas. Poor Bobrovsky never stood a chance.
Jarmo Kekalainen has been praised time and again by experts and talk show hosts for a while now, with the Jackets emerging as trendy dark horse picks each of the last two offseasons. Can there be any doubt now that he has failed miserably to take advantage of whatever the Jackets’ window was?
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They need a total teardown save for 3-4 players. GM, coach, veterans, everything must go.
Meanwhile, the Caps leave another opponent’s fanbase asking difficult questions after taking care of business. They are a machine right now.