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Caps beat Blue Jackets 4-2 to sweep the home-and-home

By Peter Hassett

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February 9, 2018 10:37 pm

With their win over the Sergei Bobrovsky on Friday night, the Capitals have taken four points from their two-game, home-and-home series. There was some excitement in this one, but it was an uneven affair – with one long sleepy stretch in the middle that’s been a bit too familiar lately.

Scoring started early, with Carlson beating Bob five minutes in on the Caps’ first shot . The Blue Jackets responded ninety seconds later with a weird goal by Pierre-Luc DuBois. Late in the first Evgeny Kuznetsov punched the puck immediately after a penalty to give the Caps and 2-1 lead after one.

A turnover in the defensive zone set up Artemi Panarin and Seth Jones to tie it 27 seconds into the second, but goals by Beagle and Eller put the Caps up by two after forty minutes, which they held on to in the final frame.

Caps win 4-2!

  • Evgeny Kuznetsov (1 goal, 1 assist) was a man possessed. He got a goal and an assist in the first period. He committed a penalty in the first and drew one in the second. It seemed like he was playing a part in every big play, and his line dominated.
  • Meanwhile, the top line of Alex Ovechkin, Nick Backstrom, and Tom Wilson was kind of a snoozer.
  • Late in the second period, Zach Werenski hit TJ Oshie, which led to a nasty injury to his swim-trunks region. Werenski returned for the third period, phew. 🍆
  • Your boy Jay Beagle scored his 50th career goal – a greasy one from under Bobrovsky’s nose. In other words: a classic Beagle goal.

  • (Pat’s tweet is more about TJ than it is about Jay.)
  • From Beagle’s goal early in the second until a few minutes into the third period, the Caps took just seven shot attempts to the Blue Jacket’s nineteen. The Caps are still turtling.
  • Andre Burakovsky sat this one out so that the Caps would allow Columbus 80 percent of the overall shots (17 to the Washington’s 4) while Alex Chiasson was on the ice – though he had entirely defensive assignments.
  • I reaffirm that Lars Eller (2 shots on goal) is the absolute unit. He could have had probably I dunno let’s say 34.5 goals tonight.
  • Fatima Ali and the UAE Women’s National Hockey Team was at Capital One Arena tonight and were honored pregame. Sounds like they’ve had a big week.

I have some thoughts about Hockey Is For Everyone month and how we’re maybe sometimes too deliberately euphemistic about who specifically we’re trying to welcome into the sport, but no one comes to RMNB at 10 PM on a Friday night to hear that. Our home team got two standings points, and that’s enough for now. Have a lovely weekend, y’all.

Headline photo: Patrick Smith

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