After an epic pregame ceremony for Alex Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals and Columbus Blue Jackets took to the ice in what was an entertaining game at Capital One Arena especially if you love offense and high scoring.
In the end the Blue Jackets would prevail 7-6 in overtime in comeback fashion. The Caps ALMOST had it.
Alex Ovechkin opened the scoring. The goal would later get credited to the great eight after it was initially given to Dylan Strome. But Ovechkin’s shot went off a Blue Jackets defender and not Strome, giving he goal to him for his 40th of the season.
He has passed Wayne Gretzky for the most 40 goal seasons in NHL history with 13. We all know what he’s coming for next. It’s the 820th of his career putting him 74 behind Gretzky. It came at 5:15 and the assists came from Tom Wilson and Strome.
T.J. Oshie made it 2-0 at 8:10 with the assists coming from Martin Fehervary and Sonny Milano. It was his 19th of the season. Conor Sheary ended his scoring drought by scoring his first goal since Jan. 24 at the 16 minute mark for his 13th goal of the season. Rasmus Sandin and Aliaksei Protas had the helpers.
Eric Robinson got the Blue Jackets on the board at 16:45. 3-1 was the score after one. The Caps outshot the Blue Jackets 19-12 after one. Wow. Told you you’d like this if you loved offense.
Adam Boqvist made it a 3-2 game with a goal at 6:57. Sonny Milano put the Caps back up 4-2 at 10:36 for his 11th goal of the season. The assists came from Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie.
Jack Roslovic scored for Columbus on the power play to pull them within one at 15:01. Then Nick Jensen decided to go beast mode. At 19:52 he scored to put the Caps up 5-3. Nic Dowd and Tom Wilson had the assists. That would be the score after two with shots even at 11 in the second period.
In the third Boqvist scored again at 6:37. Then the Blue Jackets tied it at 8:35 from Emil Bemstrom. If Jensen went beast mode the last period he went Super Saiyan with the puck going coast to coast up ice at 15:24 and flipping the puck backhanded into the net. A play so good you can chalk up an assist for Charlie Lindgren who probably deserves a night off after all those shots he faced. It was Jensen’s fourth of the season and it gave the Caps a 6-5 lead.
Then in the McNugget Minute, plot twist, the opponent scored.
It was Boone Jenner at 19:13 to tie it at six. The Blue Jackets led in shots 15-7 as the game would go to overtime. Shots overall were 39-17 Blue Jackets and they were the ones to get the lone shot of overtime.
That shot went in from Jack Roslovic to perhaps sink the Capitals playoff hopes for 2023. They will look to retool the roster this summer for another chance next year. In the meantime there’s still 10 games left.