GAME 6 PREVIEW: Jackets confident they can pull even, force Game 7

EASTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND, GAME 6:
CAPITALS (3-2) AT BLUE JACKETS (2-3)
Location: Nationwide Arena, 7:30 p.m., Monday
Local TV: Fox Sports Ohio/Fox Sports Go (Jeff Rimer, Jody Shelley) - FOX Sports Ohio channel finder
- Columbus/Lima and Cleveland areas can find the game on the main FOX Sports Ohio cable channel
- Cincinnati, Dayton, Louisville/Lexington, Charleston/Huntington, Toledo areas can find the game on the alternate FOX Sports Ohio cable channels
National TV: CNBC (John Forslund, Eddie Olczyk, Joe Micheletti); Sportsnet, TVA (Canada)
Radio: 97.1 FM & BlueJackets.com (Bob McElligott)
How the Blue Jackets play Monday night won't ultimately mean all that much if it doesn't lead to a victory against the Washington Capitals.
Columbus is backed into a proverbial corner, down 3-2 in the later stages of an entertaining first-round matchup, and all that matters now is winning. If the Jackets play another good game and lose, as they did in overtime of Game 5 on Saturday in Washington, D.C., the season will be over.
It's become that simple.
"Deserving and fate and all that stuff … it's about finding a way to win a hockey game right now," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said Sunday, after a brisk practice at Nationwide Arena. "So, if we get outshot 50-20 [Monday] night, but we end up on the right side, we'll take it."
That's because a win will extend the season by at least one more game, forcing a Game 7 on Wednesday to conclude the series at Capital One Arena, where Columbus won the first two games in overtime to take a 2-0 lead.
They've since lost three straight games, including one in double overtime and the most recent one Saturday in overtime.
"There's so many different ways of winning and losing in playoff hockey, so many ebbs and flows," said Tortorella, who twice proclaimed following Game 5 the series would last seven games. "That's just the way the game is. We should feel really confident about how we played [Saturday] night and try to bring it right into Game 6 here."

That's exactly what the Blue Jackets plan to do, after coming up short last week in their first two home games of the series. Despite record crowds attending each of those games, they lost Game 3 in double-OT and Game 4 by a 4-1 score, looking a little nervous in the process.
This time, they have no choice but to pitch anxiety and pressure into the nearest garbage can. They'd still love to win a home game for Blue Jackets fans, not to mention the series, but they can't get too wrapped up in it.
Bringing the same effort and execution from Game 5 to the ice, if not better, will be critical.
"If we play the way we can, I think we have an opportunity to dictate the series and win the series," said Matt Calvert, who had two of the Jackets' three goals Saturday. "We did a lot more of that last [game]. I still think we could be better for a full 60 [minutes] and we're going to focus on that [Monday] night. We're going to have our crowd behind us and all the boys in here are excited about it."
The Capitals are anticipating that same atmosphere, only planning to ruin it.
"[The] home crowd will get them jacked up, and you've just got to make sure you're ready to play from the get-go, make sure you're playing your game, you're playing with [maximum] effort and [maximum] commitment, and slowly, shift-to-shift, see if you can push them out of the game a little bit," Washington coach Barry Trotz said. "You try to get the momentum going your way, and if you can, it can be pretty powerful. That's the thing we have to fight against."

SERIES RECAP
GAME 1
Blue Jackets 4, Capitals 3 (OT): The Capitals took a 2-0 lead on power-play goals scored late in the first period by Evgeny Kuznetsov, who made the Blue Jackets pay a heavy price for Josh Anderson's heavy hit on defenseman Michal Kempny. Anderson was assessed a boarding major and game misconduct, which led to Kuznetsov's goals. Columbus clawed back on goals by Alex Wennberg and veteran Thomas Vanek, before Wennberg was injured in the third by Wilson. Devante Smith-Pelly and Seth Jones traded goals past the midway point of the third, making it 3-3, and Artemi Panarin won it 6:03 into overtime.
GAME 2
Blue Jackets 5, Capitals 4 (OT): Washington built a 2-0 lead in the first period for the second straight game, including Alexander Ovechkin's first in the series, but the Capitals allowed a breakaway goal by Cam Atkinson in the final stages of the period to cut their lead in half. Ovechkin's second power-play of the game started the scoring in the second, pushing Washington's lead to 3-1, but Columbus scored the next three goals, by Anderson, Atkinson and Zach Werenski for a 4-3 lead starting the third. The Caps outshot the Jackets 21-5 in the third, aided by four of the Jackets' eight penalties, and tied it late on a power-play goal by T.J. Oshie. Once again, the Jackets prevailed in overtime, getting a goal from Calvert to end it. Sergei Bobrovsky made a franchise-record 54 saves.
GAME 3
Capitals 3, Blue Jackets 2 (2-OT):Ovechkin told reporters after the morning skate the series would go back to Washington for Game 5 on Saturday tied 2-2. The Jackets came inches from ruining his proclamation, hitting the post four times, but the Capitals won nine minutes into the second overtime off a fortunate bounce that followed Bobrovsky's 42nd save. The puck hit Lars Eller's left skate and bounced into the net, silencing a record crowd of 19,337 inside Nationwide Arena, the largest to ever watch a Blue Jackets game there. Panarin and rookie Pierre-Luc Dubois scored goals in regulation for Columbus, while Wilson and John Carlson scored goals in regulation for the Capitals - who started Braden Holtby (33 saves) over Philipp Grubauer.
GAME 4
Capitals 4, Blue Jackets 1:The Capitals accomplished what they set out to do after dropping the first two games in overtime. They matched the Blue Jackets' two-game road sweep and raised the stakes with the victory, which was the first that ended in regulation. Kuznetsov had a goal and two assists to lead the way, Ovechkin scored his third goal of the series and added an assist and Wilson also finished with a goal and assist for Washington, which got 23 saves from Braden Holtby. T.J. Oshie also scored a goal to make it 2-0 in the second period, capping a man-advantage by scoring the Capitals' seventh power-play goal of the series. Boone Jenner scored the lone goal for the Blue Jackets, who got 29 saves from Bobrovsky.
GAME 5
Capitals 4, Blue Jackets 3 (OT):Columbus played its one of its best games but came out on the losing end in overtime again. Looking to rebound strong from their loss in Game 4, the Blue Jackets started strong. They grabbed a 1-0 lead on Calvert's shorthanded goal halfway through the first period, the first of his two goals in the game, but the Capitals responded quickly. Backstrom tied it about three minutes later on the first of two goals in the game for him, scored off a fortunate bounce, and after that it was back to nail-biting hockey the rest of the way. Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie also scored goals for the Capitals, while Oliver Bjorkstrand scored the first playoff goal of his NHL career to tie it, 3-3, 2:30 into the third period. Backstrom ended it 11:53 into OT by tipping a point shot by Dmitry Orlov past Bobrovsky
WHO'S HOT
Capitals: Backstrom had three points (two goals, one assist) in Game 5 to push his total for the series to eight points (two goals, six assists), tying Carlson for the team scoring lead; Kuznetsov scored his team-high fourth goal of the series in Game 5 and has seven points (four goals, three assists).
Blue Jackets: Calvert's two goals in Game 5 gave him three in the series, including the game-winner in OT in Game 2. He's the Blue Jackets' all-time leading goal-scorer in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with six goals, three assists, nine points and a plus-10 plus/minus rating in 15 games.
ANALYTICS
Columbus
Washington
SPECIAL TEAMS
POWER PLAY
Columbus
Washington
PENALTY KILL
Columbus
Washington

SCOUTING REPORT
EYES ON: THE CAPITALS
EYES ON: THE BLUE JACKETS
PROJECTED LINEUPS
CAPITALS
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin - Evgeny Kuznetsov- Tom Wilson
Chandler Stephenson - Nicklas Backstrom - T.J. Oshie
Brett Connolly - Lars Eller - Devante Smith-Pelly
Jakub Vrana - Jay Beagle - Alex Chiasson
Defensemen
Michal Kempny - John Carlson
Dmitri Orlov - Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik - Christian Djoos
Goaltenders
Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched: Madison Bowey, Andre Burakovsky (upper body), Jakub Jerabek, Shane Gersich, Brian Pinho, Travis Boyd, Pheonix Copley
BLUE JACKETS
Forwards
Artemi Panarin - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Cam Atkinson
Boone Jenner -Alexander Wennberg - Thomas Vanek
Matt Calvert - Nick Foligno - Josh Anderson
Oliver Bjorkstrand - Mark Letestu - Brandon Dubinsky
Defensemen
Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Ian Cole - David Savard
Ryan Murray - Markus Nutivaara
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joonas Korpisalo
Others: Markus Hannikainen, Sonny Milano, Alex Broadhurst, Taylor Chorney, Jack Johnson, Scott Harrington, Dean Kukan, Lukas Sedlak (upper body)