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Not-so-special teams: Blue Jackets beat Caps 5-4

By Peter Hassett

 4 Comments

February 8, 2022 9:41 pm

The Washington Capitals lost a winnable game to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. Special teams seems to be the culprit in this one. And a new goalie wouldn’t hurt.

The fourth line (or at least they’d be the fourth line in a normal season) had a big game, notching goals by Hathaway and Dowd in the first and second periods. Columbus responded with three goals in the second period — Laine, Boqvist, and Laine again — all on the power play or immediately after a power play expired.

Playing in his first NHL game, Trey Fix-Wolansky beat Pheonix Copley with a dribbler, which brought Ilya Samsonov into the game. With two and a half minutes left, all-star Tom Wilson tied the game with a quick wrist shot from the slot, only to see the Caps lose it in the final minute off Boone Jenner’s shot.

Caps lose.

  • Great effort from Washington’s most reliable line: Garnet Hathaway, Nic Dowd, and Carl Hagelin. Two goals on the rush. The second one really looked like it was going to go to Hagelin for a bit, but it turned out Oliver Bjorkstrand’s skate deflected the goal, not Hags’. Classic.
  • Nic Dowd was also elite on the faceoff dot. He won 17 of 18 at last check.
  • Lars Eller started the game on the first power-play unit, replacing Evgeny Kuznetsov. After two bad opportunities, Kuznetsov reclaimed his spot and scored a goal. Kuznetsov seems key to successful zone entries for Washington, and him getting a goal from the other side of the ice from Ovi is exactly what the unit needs.
  • Kuznetsov later absorbed a bad hit from Columbus D Andrew Peeke. A ruckus ensued, with Ovechkin scaring lots of people. For some reason, Trevor van Riemsdyk was the only one to serve a penalty for those antics, and Columbus scored on the ensuing power play.

  • Ovechkin slump continues. Nothing since January 22.
  • I don’t know if he was buzzing or if he was just on a good line, but I liked Joe Snively‘s work. If only Connor McMichael (under eight minutes of ice time) could get opportunities like that.
  • The Schultz-TVR pairing had a real rough night playing opposite, mostly, to Max Domi and Sean Kuraly.

In his first start in years, goalie Pheonix Copley had a relatively easy night, but he allowed four goals on 19 shots. My position since summer is that I want off this goalie carousel. The Caps should pick up a goalie before the trade deadline. I still think it should be Braden Holtby.

Anyway, no time for kvetching. The Caps head up to Canada for a date on Thursday with the Canadiens, who are even worse than the Blue Jackets. They better win that one.

Headline photo: NBC Sports Washington

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