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Dig deep: Caps beat Blue Jackets 4-3

By Peter Hassett

 4 Comments

November 12, 2021 9:33 pm

A tired Washington Capitals squad had to dig deep to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night. With big goals from depth players like Hathaway and Sheary, they did just that.

Justin Schultz fell at an inopportune time, so Sean Kuraly put Columbus on the board first. Alex Ovechkin replied with a milestone goal, an even-strength Ovi Shot from the Ovi Spot.

The second period started with back-to-back goals from grinder Garnet Hathaway, but the Blue Jackets rallied with two quick goals — Kuraly’s second plus one from Nyquist, to tie the game 3-3.

Late in the game, Dmitry Orlov sent a perfect pass to Conor Sheary, who just absolutely murdered it.

Caps win.

  • You might remember this, but the Capitals played on Thursday too. The squad was tired, on the road, and facing a rested Blue Jackets team. And it definitely showed. Columbus easily controlled play with tenacious backchecking pressure.
  • Alex Ovechkin passed Brett Hull to take solo control of fourth in the all-time goal-scoring lead. I love Hull’s statement to Ovi.
  • Ian and I like to joke about early-season scoring paces. Ovechkin’s on pace to, uh, just totally devastate the historical norms for age-35-plus scoring.

  • I think Garnet Hathaway has been the secret ingredient in Washington’s very good fourth line (usually fourth, at least), but he so rarely gets to show off in the offensive zone. Wonderful to see such a strong role-player get a well-deserved moment in the spotlight.
  • Alex Jonsson-Fjallby picked up his first NHL point by assisting on Hathaway’s first goal. AJF looks perfectly at home in the NHL to me. He’s fast, and that’s valuable on a team of slow dudes like Washington.
  • Hathaway’s second goal had an unexpected playmaker: forcing a turnover along the boards before the rush attack was Alex Ovechkin. Wild on-ice combo there.
  • Ilya Samsonov. He sure didn’t look like he was having fun in this one. Saving an .833 through two periods is not great. Even worse for a goalie trying to dig his still-young career out of a hole. Real discouraging.

  • During a late-game penalty kill, Columbus’ Andrew Peeke broke his stick then blocked an Ovechkin one-timer. He’ll remember that shift.

Hell yeah, I’ll take an ugly win in an unrested-versus-rested road game. Give Samsonov a W he doesn’t deserve. Sure. Why not. I don’t even care.

We’ve got more hockey coming. Sunday night, the Capitals will host the Penguins. That could be a good one. Depends on who is on the Penguins roster. I have no idea anymore.