Caps Lose Late Lead and Game in Columbus

For the first forty minutes of Tuesday's game against the Blue Jackets in Columbus, the recently offensively challenged Capitals played a strong game of road hockey. They were able to forge a slim 1-0 lead on Nicklas Backstrom's second-period goal, but they weren't able to play the same type of stifling game in the final frame, and it cost them a point.

Longtime Caps killer Cam Atkinson scored in the first minute of overtime to hand the Capitals a 2-1 overtime setback. That loss drops them to 75-1-7 when leading with 10 minutes remaining in the third period during the Barry Trotz era in Washington.

"In the first two periods," says Trotz, "we played a real good road game against a team that has been quite hot in this building. I thought we managed the puck pretty well. It was a tight-checking game; there wasn't a lot of room on both sides.

"In the third period, we gave up way too many chances. When you have a lead, you want to make sure that you tighten things down, or continue to play forward. The first two periods, we played north and we played fast. We didn't get ourselves in trouble.

"The third period, we wanted to play east-west, go back, regroup. Against a team that forechecks as well as Columbus does, you go back and you've got to go through five guys and sooner or later they're going to break you down. I thought our decision-making in the third - going back and playing slow hockey - was not a wise one on our part and on a lot of guys. The first and second period, we didn't do that."

Neither side generated much in the way of offense, scoring chances, possession or zone time in a first period that resembled a New Jersey Devils intrasquad scrimmage, circa the mid- to late-1990s. The first shot on net for either side came at the 3:15 mark of the first. Over the final minutes of the first frame and the first couple minutes of the second period, the two teams went without putting a single shot on net for a staggering span of 7 minutes and 11 seconds.

The Caps had two excellent chances while shorthanded early in the second period. As the late guy on the rush, Matt Niskanen had a good look at the net from the slot, but hit the right post. Seconds later, Jay Beagle had a shorthanded semi-breakaway, but was stoned on a strong save from Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Beagle did draw a tripping call on the play, negating what remained on the Jackets' power play and giving the Caps an abbreviated man advantage opportunity of their own.

Backstrom finally broke the boredom spell late in the second period. One shift after Bobrovsky denied his backhand try from in tight, the Caps center took a feed from Brooks Orpik, gained the Columbus zone, and beat Bobrovsky with a far-side wrist shot from just above the left circle.

"It was a nice pass from Brooks there," says Backstrom. "I saw I had some room, so I was just trying to surprise him there. It's always hard for a goalie when you shoot between a defender. It went in."

Washington limited the Jackets to just 10 shots on net over the game's first 37 minutes, but Columbus managed 17 shots over the final 23:37 of the game. The Jackets held a significant territorial and possession advantage in the third period, as the Capitals managed one shot on net over the final 17:37 of the game, and no shots on goal over the final 10:11. Each of Washington's three third-period shots on net came from a distance greater than 40 feet away.

In the Blue Jackets' three previous games, the cannon that fires when the home team scores sounded a combined total 21 times. Goalie Philipp Grubauer and his Caps teammates combined to keep the cannon quiet for 53 minutes on Tuesday, but with the Jackets constantly buzzing the Washington zone in the third, it seemed like a matter of time before Columbus would break through.

Sure enough, rookie defenseman Zach Werenski tied the game at 1-1 with 6:58 remaining in the third period, spoiling Caps goaltender Grubauer's shutout bid. William Karlsson gained the Washington zone along the right wing wall, and went cross ice to Werenski on the weak side. The defenseman crept down to the top of the left circle and released a shot that went bar down behind Grubauer.

The Caps appeared to regain their lead less than a minute later when Backstrom got the puck behind Bobrovsky on a wild and prolonged goalmouth scramble, but the Jackets shrewdly used their video challenge to allege that Caps winger T.J. Oshie was offside on the play. The review confirmed that Oshie was indeed offside, nullifying the goal and setting the stage for Atkinson's overtime heroics.

Grubauer made a good save to stop a Brandon Saad shot that caromed off Caps defenseman John Carlson early in the extra session, and the Washington netminder covered up to force a left dot draw in the Capitals' zone. Brandon Dubinsky beat Backstrom on the face-off, kicking the puck back to Atkinson, whose wrist shot beat Grubauer high to the stick side to give the Jackets the win.

Although the Caps played much better than in a 5-1 loss at Carolina in their previous outing, they've scored only five goals in their last four games, and only three of those goals came in five-on-five play. For the second straight game, the Capitals were limited to 22 or fewer shots on net.

"It was a tight game," says Caps defenseman Taylor Chorney, who picked up his first point of the season with an assist on Washington's lone goal of the game. "We knew that [the Jackets] had been playing really well at home, so we expected them to come out [strong].

"They pressured us all over the ice but I think that for the most part we did a good job of taking care of the puck, getting it deep and generating some chances. It was kind of a tough call on the offside; they obviously got it right but at the same time it was tough for us. It was a hard-working goal. But it happens.

"I think overall, we were probably a little more pleased than our effort the last game, so it's something to build off."