The Capitals’ Tom Wilson and the Blue Jackets’ Josh Anderson have avoided suspensions from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety according to the Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan.
Both players doled out dangerous blindside hits which injured players.
An all too familiar postseason fate was bestowed upon the Washington Capitals by the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game One of the first round of the Stanley Cup loffs. In the Blue Jackets 4-3 overtime win, the Caps were plagued by stupid penalties, inability to make simple plays in dire times, and turtling that would make Donatello proud.
The Capitals out-shot the Blue Jackets 30 to 27, but were out-attempted at five-on-five 51 to 46.
By Chris Cerullo 6 years ago
As the lights dimmed before overtime in Game One of first-round playoff series between the Washington Capitals and Columbus Blue Jackets, a message flashed on the Capital One Arena screen: the Metro was closing at 11:30. The fans still in attendance let out a collective groan. It displayed everything that is wrong with the Capitals and Washington, DC.
Three hundred sixty-two seconds into the 20 minute overtime period, Artemi Panarin fired a shot off the crossbar behind Washington netminder Philipp Grubuauer.
“It sucks,” said Grubauer, who started in place of a benched Braden Holtby, statically one of the best postseason goalies in NHL history. “It’s a tough one to swallow.”
The Capitals blew the lead the twice in the third period of Thursday’s contest despite holding the lead heading into the period. Over the last seven 24 minutes, the Jackets outscored Washington 3-1.
By Chris Gordon 6 years ago
The Washington Capitals had never faced the Columbus Blue Jackets before Thursday night, but if you were worried that you might see some unfamiliar or uncharacteristic playoff hockey from the Caps, you can rest assured. Same old playoff Caps, losing multiple leads and then collapsing in overtime.
In the first period, the Caps turned a five-minute major penalty into two goals, each off the smoking stick of Evgeny Kuznetsov. Alex Wennberg caught a sharp pass from Boone Jenner to score in the second, and Tomas Vanek converted a power play early in the third to tie the game. Jakub Vrana set up Devante Smith-Pelly for a gorgeous goal to restore the Caps lead only to lose it with five minutes remaining when Seth Jones scored on a late power play. Tied at three goals, the Caps once more entered the hellish diarrheal hellzone known as playoff overtime.
Artemi Panarin won it.
Blue Jackets beat Capitals 4-3 in overtime. Columbus leads the series 1-0.
By Peter Hassett 6 years ago
With Josh Anderson ejected for a late hit on Michal Kempny, the Capitals had five minutes of 5-on-4 play to score the first goal of the series. Evgeny Kuznetsov did just that, but we wasn’t done.
As is now tradition, the Capitals gave away red glowsticks to fans attending Game One of their series against the Blue Jackets.
With the blinking red glow as well as a new projection system, Capital One Arena looked beautiful.
By Brendan Doyle 6 years ago
Well, we have arrived at the base of the seemingly insurmountable mountain once more. We have said our goodbyes to the regular season and now must venture up towards the summit, battling despair, nausea, and heartache along the way to a hopeful date with Lord Stanley’s Cup.
The Capitals first test this postseason comes against a familiar Metro Division foe, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Both teams will enter the playoffs at almost full strength, with the Caps only missing Jay Beagle and the Jackets only missing Lukas Sedlak.
Puck drop is at 7:30 PM on the USA Network. Peter is back recapping playoff hockey.
By Chris Cerullo 6 years ago
