The Caps completed a home-and-home with Metro-Division foe, the Columbus Blue Jackets and came out of the two games with maximum success. Four points in the standings and two regulation victories racked up after the Caps took down the Jackets 4-2 at Capital One Arena Friday night.
The Blue Jackets out-shot the Caps 37 to 17 and out-attempted them at five-on-five 56 to 41. If games were won on calculators Columbus would be really happy with the past two fixtures.
- Stick taps to @CapitalsPR for a bunch of these from Friday night. Must follow for Caps fans on Twitter.
- The Capitals have a combined 42 shots (17 in Friday night’s affair) in their last two games compared to the Blue Jackets 76. We can discuss shot quality from both teams point of views, but this is something that the Caps have made into a trend for themselves this season. Peter has written very smartly on the topic of shot quality many times already.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov was the best Caps skater on the ice. He now has an assist in six straight games, his line was clicking all night, and he was flying on both ends. Less unnecessary penalties would be nice though Kuzy.
- The man who replaced birthday boy Andre Burakovsky in the lineup was less impressive. Alex Chiasson got hammered by Columbus shot attempts (minus-13 differential) all night as he was tasked with lining up for a ton of defensive zone draws. It’s not really a secret that I don’t think someone who came into camp on a tryout agreement should be playing over Burakovsky.
- The Caps power play seems to be on a roll of sorts. They now have scored nine goals in the Caps last ten games. That unit heating up will be key if the Caps continue to struggle five-on-five down the stretch.
- Tom Wilson has drawn eight penalties in his last nine games and now has drawn 25 overall on the season. This skill of his seems to be back after taking a break for a season or so. Keep it up #TopLineTom you beauty.
- The Caps have a pretty outstanding record against Columbus in the last 13 games the two teams have played. A 10-1-2 mark against any division competitor is fantastic and against one as good as Columbus is even better.
- Jay Beagle scored his 50th career goal and the Capitals are now 40-1-5 in games where he scores. It also ended up being the game winner so praise Jaysus.
- Another very strong night from Braden Holtby stopping 35 pucks. I think Braden would be totally down to play these Jackets in a playoff series. He seems to have their number to an extent.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com, Hockeystats.ca, NaturalStatTrick.com, and Corsica.hockey.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Blue Jackets
Headline photo: Patrick McDermott
