The Washington Capitals proved they can win low-scoring games too, besting the Columbus Blue Jackets in a game neither goalie can hate.
Jakob Chychrun scored the lone goal of the game’s first 40 minutes, set up by Tom Wilson, buzzing with Chychrun. Wilson was denied a goal in the third period, due to the whimsy of officials hyperfocused on meaningless details like did-the-puck-cross-the-goal-line. Aliaksei Protas did his thing, scoring on the empty net.
Caps win!
- Logan Thompson records his first shutout of the season.
- There were a couple good chances in the first couple shifts, but I’m not gonna lie: this was a boring game. (Relative to the lots of fun we’ve been having lately.) Only one of the prior ten games had under four goals.
- After going 8-1-1 in their last ten, the Caps added Ryan Leonard to their N/A list, alongside Carlson and PLD.
- The Capitals earned three power plays in the first two periods. During those power plays – really two and a fraction of a third – the Caps dominated the Jackets in scoring attempts, 5-2. I suppose, ideally, the team with one less dude should not be getting plural shot attempts per PK.
Aliaksei Protas now owns Capitals franchise record for most goals without a PPG to start a career
- I like Jet Greaves. If anything, the defense in front of him might be underrated, but Greaves is still saving better than expected: 9.4 goals before tonight, according to Moneypuck. He was dialed in from the drop, stopping good shots from Dowd and Protas in the first sixty seconds.
- Hendrix Lapierre had another low-minute game (just over seven minutes), but he managed to have his presence felt: knocked a tooth out of Brendan Gaunce with a high stick.
- The PK did a heroic job killing that double-sized power play, facing eight attempts and 0.6 expected goals. Then Gaunce, who drew the high-sticking penalty, committed a trip.
- The audio on the Monumental feed that I watched was a solid second behind the video.
- Fun fact: The last six games Jet Greaves played went to overtime or the shootout. All but two in his last ten. The team went 4-1-5 in the stretch. If you’re the most middle-of-the-road team in the NHL – and the Jackets are quite that – racking up loser points is the way to go.
- With five minutes left in the third, Tom Wilson kicked the puck into Greaves and into the goal – but apparently it did not cross the goal line.
He says he can't hear #joebsuitofthenight
There will be four three-day breaks for the Caps this season. The first begins now. Time for recuperation for them – and, uh, we need to find some stuff to write about here. Then it’s a date with the Hurricanes, the toughest game of the month.
