Caps Fall to Columbus, 2-1

Playing with a patchwork blueline against one of the league's most aggressive forechecking teams on Friday night, the Caps figured to have their hands full against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Washington's youthful blueline acquitted itself well and gave the Jackets nothing at five-on-five, but on a night where it was all about special teams, the Caps were shorthanded personnel-wise and came up short on the scoreboard, 2-1.

"We're gradually starting to defend better," says Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen. "It's taken a little longer than we probably hoped. But right now, we just can't seem to kill a penalty. In as tight game, that hurts."
Anthony Duclair scored his team-leading fourth power-play goal of the season at 5:09 of the third to snap a 1-1 tie, and the Caps weren't able to answer back. Columbus was also at the top of its game on Friday, winning and limiting the opposition to a single goal for the second straight game.

Washington dominated the first period, but the Jackets jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a late power-play goal in the game's initial frame. Columbus dominated the second period, but the Caps were able to draw even with a power-play goal of their own.
The Caps killed off a Michal Kempny holding minor late in the second to keep the game even, but were soon tasked with another kill they could not complete. With Dmitry Orlov in the box for roughing early in the third, the Caps were without three of their top four penalty-killing defensemen from a workload standpoint; Orlov was in the box and Brooks Orpik and John Carlson were both out of action because of lower body injuries.
Columbus took advantage of that critical juncture of the contest to score what would prove to be the game-winning goal, Duclair's tally from the weak side at 5:09 of the third. After coming into the game on a 3-for-41 slide on the power play, the Jackets went 2-for-3 with the extra man to take the first of four meetings between the two Metropolitan Division rivals.

"When they start scoring a couple of goals," says Columbus coach John Tortorella of his team's power play outfit, "no matter what kind of goals they are, they loosen up their hands and they just feel better about it."
Washington had a number of good scoring chances early in the game and was able to mount a good forecheck of its own from time to time, but the Blue Jackets were extremely adept at tying up sticks down low, and Sergei Bobrovsky (32 saves) was solid in net for Columbus as well. The Caps were also guilty of occasionally overpassing themselves out of scoring areas and opportunities, too.
With Evgeny Kuznetsov in the box for interference, Columbus went to the power play for the first time late in the first. The Caps were a dozen seconds shy of executing a successful kill when Nick Foligno made a fine feed, threading a backhand pass through his legs to set up Oliver Bjorkstrand on the weak side. Bjorkstrand was able to chip a shot high into the top right corner for a 1-0 Columbus lead at 17:16 of the first.
Columbus put a lot of heat on the Caps in the Washington zone in the middle frame, but Lars Eller was able to skate the puck into neutral ice after a fairly lengthy hemming, drawing a hooking call on the Jackets' Alexander Wennberg as he did. The Caps had nothing going on during their first power-play opportunity of the evening, but were able to get the game tied up with Wennberg in the box.
Seconds after his shot from center point was blocked, Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen - filling in for Carlson on Washington's top extra-man unit - issued a one-time blast to the back of the net from the left point, Nicklas Backstrom set up the shot, dropping back to the right point and sliding the puck across to Niskanen for the tying tally at 7:53 of the second.

"They were overplaying [Alex Ovechkin] for the first three power plays, I think," recounts Niskanen. "Just a little rotation where I was able to get a pretty good look from the middle of the ice and then the last couple of kills they switched it again and got more aggressive.
"That group of four [regulars on the Caps' top power play unit] that I was with tonight, they're really good at reading what the other team is doing, and they can adjust quickly without even talking about it. So I'm just trying to get up to speed with what they're doing."
But minutes after they completed their only successful penalty-killing mission of the night, Orlov went to the box. The Caps lost a board battle behind their own net, and Niskanen lost his stick in the process. The puck came around to Duclair, who popped a shot in from virtually no angle, shooting from the goal line down low, off the left post.
The Jackets came into the contest with the league's worst ranked power play, but that unit got well at Washington's expense on Friday night. The Caps' penalty killers are now at 72.2% on the season, ranking 27th in the NHL. Washington has allowed multiple power-play goals in four of its 15 games this season, and has been nicked for at least one in 11 of 15 contests.
"As we are getting closer to 20 games, you get to have a true analysis of what things are going on," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "Special teams was a big part of tonight's game, and they were able to score one more power-play goal than us, and that decided the game."