Photo: Jamie Sabau
On Tuesday night, the Washington Capitals didn’t look quite ready to return from all-star break. Playing visitor to the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Caps did well enough at tilting the ice, but a glut of goof-ups in their own end gave Lumbus a too-easy victory.
After a quiet first frame, Mark Letestu kicked off a wild second period by scoring on the rush. Ryan Johansen got his 18th of the season soon thereafter, notching from the high slot, but Andre Burakovsky struck back half a minute later by tapping in Matt Niskanen’s long bomb. Fedor Tyutin beat Holtby after the top line and top pairing failed to clear the zone, but Troy Brouwer crashed the net to make it a one-goal game– again half a minute later.
In the third, Cam Atkinson cued those damn canons with a quick shot from the slot. Lumbus was buzzing after that, but Evgeny Kuznetsov shut em up with a wrister off a rebound to make it a one-goal game once more. A Backstrom penalty in the final minutes neutered the Capitals’ comeback effort.
Blue Jackets beats Capitals 4-3. Four-game losing streak. Ack.
- The Caps penalty parade continues, but the PK unit is covering all those naughty butts. Wilson boarded a guy, then Niskanen held a guy, then Hillen hooked a guy. If discipline is supposed to be a watchword in the Caps locker room, maybe they need some neon posterboard and some puff paint. Just a thought.
- Flip side: the Washington power play went oh-fer despite generating a hefty shot total– especially in that inspired session at the close of the first period.
- Matt Niskanen‘s finally starting to rack up some points, earning two primary assists tonight– both of them crucial in execution and timing.
- The first of Matt Niskanen’s assists is owed to Nick Backstrom, who recorded his 400th career point on it. That is 542 points in 542 games for Nicky, which is amazing for two reasons: Reason one: Man, he’s good. Reason two: No one appreciates this guy enough, including us.
- More awesome: Eric Fehr, who was spawning scoring chances like fish lay eggs. He also drew a big penalty in the third period, but Rob McElhenney or whoever was pretty good on special teams.
- Enough of the awesome. Let’s get real. Brooks Orpik and John Carlson were the only defensive pair not to get a hall pass to the offensive zone. 44 and 74 were on the ice for the Jackets’ first three goals. (Hillen and Green were on the fourth.)
- The fourth line continues to be a quiet fiasco as it grows more obvious that Tom Wilson isn’t going to transform play down there. That was rough performance from Jay Beagle and company during 5v5, though Jay was solid as a bulldog during the penalty kill.
- I’m not used to quick-response goals being a good thing, but here we are. The Caps answered the Jackets twice within 40 seconds of a goal. After last year’s blatant incompetence, this is still a bit too novel a feeling for me to enjoy without suspicion.
Joe B suit of the night
Yeah, I dunno about this one. The Capitals did a lot right (I can’t get over that power play in the first period), but it only takes a couple screw-ups in the proximity of the goalie to render a good possession game null.
So that makes four losses in a row. Thaaaaat’s not good, but after the wild run we’ve been enjoying since December we should have expected this. Let’s promise not to panic too much just yet. Especially since we’ve got a big game against the Penguins coming up in less than 24 hours. It’s rivalry night on blah blah blah GO CAPS.
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