The Washington Capitals traveled to Columbus, Ohio to meet their Metro Division buddies the Blue Jackets and oh boy did it not go well. Simply put, this was a beatdown. The Jackets came out 5-1 victors and I’m not sure the Caps could have looked less interested in winning this game.

The Blue Jackets out-shot the Caps 35 to 26 and out-attempted them five-on-five 49 to 32.

• On the bright side, Alex Ovechkin played in his 984th career game for the Capitals, passing Calle Johansson for the all-time lead in games played with the franchise. He topped the occasion off by scoring his league leading 39th goal of the season. The Great Eight now sits three goals away from the 600th of his career.
• The Capitals were out-attempted and out-scoring chanced by the Blue Jackets in each period of this game. There was no comeback attempt, only pure disappointment. When you adjust their shot attempt percentage for score and venue this game (35.3%) is the third worst of the season, “bested” only by a February 4 effort against Vegas (34.3%) and a November 12 effort against Edmonton (29.4%). Fun fact, the Caps somehow won that game against the Oilers, 2-1.
• I’m finding it hard to pick on singular players because literally not one person in a Caps jersey had a positive shot attempt differential. Alex Chiasson in 7:16 of five-on-five ice time was your “leader” at a minus-1. Lars Eller in 10:58 of five-on-five ice time was your worst at a minus-10.
• Braden Holtby let in four goals on 16 Columbus shots in the first period. Philipp Grubauer stopped all 18 shots sent his way in the second and third periods. Columbus clearly took their foot off the pedal after their blazing start and the Caps shambolic first period defensive zone coverage, but I’d be lying if I said Grubauer has not been much better than Holtby of late. I still don’t think there’s much Holtby could have done different on all four goals scored on him in this game though.
• The Caps, Philadelphia Flyers, and Pittsburgh Penguins have now all played 63 games this season. The Flyers lead the Metropolitan Division on 78 points in front of the Caps’ 77 and the Pens’ 76. Who would have thought. I mean, cant get beat by the Pens in the second round if you play them in the first.
• The Capitals made zero trades on deadline day.

Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com, Hockeystats.ca, NaturalStatTrick.com, and Corsica.hockey.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Blue Jackets

Headline photo: Jamie Sabau