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Lights out in Lumbus: Caps beat Blue Jackets by a lot

By Peter Hassett

 3 Comments

March 17, 2022 9:45 pm

With 12 minutes left in Thursday’s game, the Columbus Blue Jackets pulled their goalie in an act of desperation. Conor Sheary scored almost instantly, cementing a confident win for the Washington Capitals.

Anthony Mantha scored twice in the first period, set up for one by TJ Oshie and getting the second thanks to a lucky bounce off goalie Joonas Korpisalo’s skate. Marty Fehervary exploited a bad line change to make it 3-0 in the second period, but the Jackets struck back with a one-touch goal by Bjorkstrand. Alex Ovechkin scored his 38th of the season with a one-timer on the power play, then Patrik Laine had an unreal deflection early in the third. Connor McMichael got a break in the third period, getting credit for Columbus’s own-goal.

Columbus pulled the goalie with almost thirteen minutes left, so Conor Sheary scored an empty-netter basically immediately. Evgeny Kuznetsov got a power-play goal later in the third period.

Caps win 7-2.

Yup. It’s a Bailamos game.

  • In the first period, the puck bounced off the back boards then off Korpisalo’s skate to cross the goal line. Credit: Anthony Mantha. In the third period, Columbus defender Dean Kukan snagged a rebound and accidentally put it into his own net. Credit: Connor McMichael. That’s a lot of bad luck for a not very good team.
  • (McMike needed that lucky bounce though; it was his first goal since February 10.)
  • Anthony Mantha has been on fire since returning on March 3. Now he’s got five points (four of them are goals) in his last five games. I’m just gonna put transparent-millie.png right here.
  • I really liked Alex Ovechkin‘s power-play goal. It was the usual one-timer from the Ovi spot, but the pass came from below the goal line. That gave Ovechkin a clear lane to shoot. I don’t think that’s the kind of play you can manufacture, but it sure would be nice if they could get him some more looks like that.
  • TJ Oshie left the game early in the third period with a lower-body injury. Not good at all.

  • I guess I’ve gotta complain about ref calls here. Alex Ovechkin got called for interference as he put a clean hit on a live puck against the player possessing that puck. Dmitry Orlov got a roughing after getting bopped in the head. Nic Dowd got called for embellishment because he got wiped out dramatically. Some eyebrow-raising calls there.
  • Technically not a shorthanded goal for the short king, Conor Sheary, but I’m gonna call it one anyway. Call it poetic license.

We sorta watched Columbus’s season end tonight. They’ve gotta be like one percent to make the playoffs now.

Anyway, no time to gloat. The Caps have a very very tough game in Raleigh on Friday. And it looks like they’ll be down one player for it. Sorry for ending on a bummer note.

Headline photo: @Jencapsfan74

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