POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Caps 3, Jackets 1

Finishing Touches - The Caps halted a two-game slide (0-1-1) on Saturday night against Columbus, downing the Jackets 3-1 to improve to 6-1-0 on the season against Metropolitan Division opponents. The Caps have outscored their fellow division denizens by a combined total of 27-11 in those eight games.

Having let third-period leads slip away in each of their three previous contests, the Caps locked it down in the third period against Columbus, which was the Blue Jackets' best period of the night. Eric Robinson scored at 6:28 of the third to spoil Ilya Samsonov's shutout bid, but the Caps led for more than 55 minutes in Saturday's game, and the lead never seemed to be in peril.
Washington's best period was the second, when it nearly tripled up the Jackets (25-9) in shot attempts, limiting the visitors to two harmless shots on net, nearly nine minutes apart.
"The third period tonight, I thought we had to compete hard," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "I thought Columbus, their best period was in the third period, and I thought they competed extremely hard, and never stop working on pucks. And so we had to work the entire time. And defensively, I thought we were good through the game."
Great Eight Update - Caps captain Alex Ovechkin scored his team's second goal of the game on Saturday, the goal that turned out to be the game-winner. John Carlson made a good read in neutral ice to pick off a Columbus exit feed, and he made an even better play, a quick feed to send Ovechkin into Blue Jackets territory against a flat-footed defense.
From the right circle, Ovechkin shot and scored, beating Jackets goalie Daniil Tarasov on the far side and chalking up his 152nd unique goaltending victim while notching his 20th goal of the season and the 750th of his illustrious NHL career.
With that goal, Ovechkin became the seventh player in NHL history to record as many as 17 straight seasons with 20 or more goals. Only two players have had longer streaks with 20 or more goals: Gordie Howe (22) and Brendan Shanahan (19).
Additionally, Ovechkin set an NHL standard on Saturday, requiring the fewest games (25) by a player aged 36 or older to reach the 20-goal plateau in a given season, and erasing Shanahan (20 goals in 27 games at age 37) from the record books.
Ovechkin's game-winning goal was his second of the season and the 118th of his NHL career, tying him with Phil Esposito for third place on the League's all-time list. Jaromir Jagr (135) sits atop that list, but second-place Howe (121) is within striking distance this season.
Only four players have ever scored as many as 750 goals in the League, but Ovechkin became the second-fastest to do so, scoring No. 750 in his 1,222nd career game. Wayne Gretzky needed only 1,001 games with which to reach the 750 mark.
Finally, Ovechkin required the fewest number of games (79) to leap from 700 to 750 career goals, besting Howe (106), Gretzky (116) and Jagr (182).
Carry Fourth - In Thursday night's homestand opener against Chicago, Washington's line of Carl Hagelin, Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway turned in a vintage performance, combining for two goals and five points while posting typically strong possession numbers. But on Friday, Dowd was placed in COVID-19 protocol, causing him to miss his ninth game of the season on Saturday.
Hagelin and Hathaway played with Lars Eller on Saturday, leaving Washington with an all-rookie fourth line of Beck Malenstyn, Aliaksei Protas and Brett Leason. On the line's first shift of the game, Protas scored to give the Caps to an early 1-0 lead that they would not relinquish.
Protas' line didn't get anywhere near the ice time that Dowd's line typically gets; all three of the rookies were below the 10-minute mark at night's end. The line took four shifts together in the first, three in the second and one in the third, though Protas did pick up some additional time as a winger on other lines in the third.
In addition to generating the game's first goal, the Protas line helped set the table for a stretch of offensive-zone dominance for Washington late in the second period. Laviolette sent the Protas line out for a defensive-zone draw against Columbus' fourth line with 7:42 left in the second.
Although Protas lost the draw, the Caps were able to work their way into Columbus ice and to force the Jackets into an icing, giving Laviolette an opportunity to put the Evgeny Kuznetsov line out for the next shift against a weary Jackets fourth line. By the time that Columbus unit got off the ice, it had been out for nearly a minute and a half. The Connor McMichael line followed with another offensive-zone shift, and the Caps maintained offensive zone dominance for most of the remainder of the period, out-attempting the visitors 11-4 during that stretch.
"For sure it means a lot," says Protas. "If we don't score, we try to create momentum for our lines, and other lines try to do the same. That's why we've had success, I think."
"We're just trying to keep it really simple," says Malenstyn. "Anything we can do to contribute to the team is huge. Those icings are a small play that gets those big guys on the ice, and that's where they can do their damage. I thought it was a really simple and sound game from us tonight, and awesome to see those guys go to work and come out with a big win."
Dazzling Display - McMichael dazzled the crowd late in the second period, flagging down a puck at the Columbus line, carrying in and suddenly spinning off a pair of Jackets defenders while maintaining his balance, thereby creating a short-ice breakaway for himself. His bid to tuck the puck through Tarasov's five-hole was denied, as the rookie goalie did the splits to close off McMichael's shot.
After the game, T.J. Oshie waxed rhapsodic about his linemate's skilled play.
"I actually was dead tired at the time, so I flipped it," says Oshie, "I knew he was over there somewhere - I didn't know where, so I flipped it in the air hoping it was going to be in his area. And I got off the ice and was huffing and puffing.
"I got to see the replay, and pretty amazing agility to spin that direction for a lefty. I think a righty on your backhand, it's something that I think is still really nice, but to do it that way - if you think about the mechanics of it - is very hard. I wish he would have buried it, because that would have been all over the top 10, for sure."
Sometime To Return - Saturday night was Washington's 25th game of the season, but it was the first for Caps blueliner Matt Irwin. Signed as an unrestricted free agent during the offseason, the 34-year-old Irwin is a veteran of 384 NHL games with San Jose, Boston, Nashville, Anaheim and Buffalo.
To this point of the season, the combination of excellent health and consistent effectiveness of Washington's top six defensemen kept Irwin out of the lineup, but when Trevor van Riemsdyk was placed into COVID-19 protocol on Saturday, Irwin was finally able to make his Caps debut, and to play in his first NHL game since April 17 when he was with the Sabres.
In Saturday's game, Irwin logged 17:49 in ice time, was credited with five shots on net - matching McMichael's team high total - a hit and a blocked shot.
"I felt pretty good," says Irwin. "The guys were very supportive. [Justin Schultz], my [defense] partner, was talking a lot, and that just helped so much. A lot of credit to the practices and the strength staff.
"It's all part of the role, right? You're in the NHL, you'll take any role you can get, and I was excited to do it. And obviously you just wait your turn that to get in the lineup, and I was happy to do that tonight."
Laviolette and Caps assistant coach Kevin McCarthy had Irwin during their days in Nashville, and they weren't surprised at his ability to step in seamlessly on short notice.
"Really good, really good," says Laviolette. "Matty's a warrior. He'll jump in there and he'll give you everything he's got. I think his teammates were really happy to see him in there, and he played a really solid game for us. He was really strong defensively, and he tried to contribute offensively.
"Kevin McCarthy and I have seen a lot of Matt. We know exactly what is there, and he delivered a really good performance tonight."
Lookin' For A Reason - With the Caps leading 2-0 early in the second period, Columbus winger Yegor Chinakhov beat Caps goalie Ilya Samsonov on the short side to apparently slice the Washington lead in half. But Washington elected to challenge the call, alleging that the Jackets were offside on the play, and video review confirmed as much, nullifying the Chinakhov goal.
By The Numbers - For the first time in just over two years - since a Dec. 3, 2019 game against the Sharks in San Jose - the Caps got through a game without being tasked with a single penalty-killing mission … Hathaway scored his seventh goal of the season, exceeding his total from last season (six) and doing so in 31 fewer games … Ovechkin led the Caps with 22:38 in ice time … Irwin and McMichael led the Caps with five shots on net each … Ovechkin and Irwin led the Caps with seven shot attempts each … Hathaway led Washington with seven hits … Martin Fehervary led the Capitals with three blocked shots … Eller won six of nine draws (67 percent).