Capitals crush Blue Jackets

The Washington Capitals annihilated the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-2 on St. Patrick’s Day. Anthony Mantha scored twice, continuing to show how much of an impact he’s made on the Caps since returning from shoulder surgery in November.

Mantha got a pass from T.J. Oshie at 4:29 and executed on the breakaway. He added another snipe with a weird bounce off the goaltender at 12:20. 2-0 was the score after one with the Blue Jackets leading in shots 13-8. Mantha has six goals this season.

In the second period, it was Martin Fehervary’s turn on the breakaway 80 seconds in for his fifth goal of the season. Daniel Sprong and John Carlson had the helpers.

Oliver Bjorkstrand got the Blue Jackets on the board at 6:57 with potential future Capital Max Domi providing the secondary assist. Oddly enough, he was an unannounced game time decision but still played. Keep your eyes on this development.

The Caps responded at 10:44 with a power play goal of their own from Alex Ovechkin from the office. It was his 38th of the season and 768th of his career. Conor Sheary and Tom Wilson had the assists.

4-1 was the score after two with the Blue Jackets leading in shots 17-15 in the second.

Patrik Laine scored at 1:47 to cut the deficit in half before the Caps turned it on to close out the game. First it was Connor McMichael with his eighth goal of the season at 4:15. Sheary added one at 7:21 that was assisted by Trevor Van Riemsdyk and Nicklas Backstrom. That was his 16th Then Evgeny Kuznetsov put a bird on top at 9:03 for his 20th goal of the season. That came on the power play assisted by Ovechkin and Backstrom.

The Blue Jackets led in shots 11-10 in the third and 41-33 overall but the Caps poured on the goals while Vitek Vanecek was magnificent with 39 saves. There was some bad news though as T.J. Oshie suffered a lower body injury in the third period, taking just three shifts.

The Caps conclude the back to back road show with a Friday night contest against the Carolina Hurricanes.