POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Jackets 2, Caps 1 (OT)

Point Made - As tight as the Metropolitan Division standings are at this juncture of the season, the Caps' 2-1 overtime loss to division rival Columbus on Saturday has to be seen as a big point for Washington, especially given the way the game played out.

Longtime Caps-killer Cam Atkinson scored on a breakaway exactly one minute into the contest, and Columbus nursed that 1-0 lead all the way into the 59th minute of the game.
Washington lost captain Alex Ovechkin for the end of the first period, and it did not have its most lethal power play weapon on the ice for the first of what would be only two power play opportunities on the night. Ovechkin had a cut on his hand that required suturing, and he was back at the start of the second.
Caps goalie Braden Holtby wasn't as fortunate. Midway through the second period, Atkinson inadvertently got the blade of his stick tangled in Holtby's mask, jimmying the bucket right off the goaltender's head in the process. Holtby suffered an injury to his face/eye area, and he retired for the night at that point.
Washington's start was poor; the Jackets - with aid of an early power play - led Washington 14-3 in shot attempts at the first television timeout of the first period. But Columbus managed to get only four of those shots on net.

Although possession metrics were fairly even after 40 minutes, the Caps could have had an advantage in that department had they been able to manage the puck better. Washington put on late surges in each of the first two periods, but wasn't able to solve Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo.
Holtby and Pheonix Copley were able to keep the Caps within a goal, and Copley made a critical stop on Jackets winger Lukas Sedlak on a semi-breakaway midway through the third to keep the deficit at one, giving Washington a chance to pull a point late.
With Copley pulled for an extra attacker and just over a minute remaining in regulation, the Caps took advantage of Columbus icing the puck. Nicklas Backstrom won a left dot draw, and the Caps worked the puck around the top of the umbrella to Evgeny Kuznetsov, who blasted a one-timer past Korpisalo to square the score at 1-1 with 66 seconds left.
With Backstrom boxed for slashing in overtime, Jackets winger Artemi Panarin won it for Columbus with a one-timer on the power play. But given that they spent the night chasing the game and trying to spark some offense, and that they had to make and abrupt goaltending change mid-game, the Caps have to be pleased to pull the point. Without Copley's save on Sedlak and Kuznetsov's well placed one-timer, it doesn't happen.
"I mean, yeah," says Caps center Nic Dowd. "It's good teams and it's the time of year where you have to find different ways to win. We're not going to beat teams 5-0 like we did earlier in the season, and we have a target on our back as well, too. I think we did a good job of grinding back. We outshot them and we had a little bit of some weird stuff happen with Cops coming in late, and he played really well. We've just got to find more ways to create a little bit of offense."

Drought Done - Kuznetsov's goal was his eighth of the season and his first since Dec. 2, snapping a 17-game dry spell between lamplighters. Six of his eight goals this season have come on the power play, second on the team to Alex Ovechkin's eight extra-man strikes.
Late Rallies - Saturday's game marked the second time this season that the Caps have managed to scored a six-on-five goal late in a game to force overtime. Washington is now 2-6-4 in games in which it trailed heading into the third period. That means Washington has managed to earn at least a point from half of the games in which it has trailed going into the third period this season.
Eastbound And Up - Washington is now 16-1-1 in its last 18 contests against its fellow Eastern Conference denizens. Holtby is 11-1-0 with a 1.72 GAA and a .946 save pct. against Eastern foes during that stretch.

Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears spent Saturday night on the road, facing the Phantoms in Lehigh Valley. The Bears blanked their hosts 3-0, behind an 18-save shutout from Ilya Samsonov, who recorded his first career AHL shutout.
After a scoreless first frame, the Bears struck three times in the middle period to give Samsonov more than enough offensive support.
Ryan Sproul scored his fourth of the season at 2:58 with help from Jusso Ikonen and Max Kammerer to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. Riley Barber scored his 14th goal of the season at 11:27, Mike Sgarbossa and Aaron Ness assisting. Barber notched his second of the game - an unassisted goal - at 16:15 to close out the scoring.
With the win, Samsonov improves to 6-11-0 on the season.
Hershey is back in action on Sunday when it hosts a rematch with the Phantoms at Giant Center.
By The Numbers -John Carlson led the Caps with 27:54 in ice time … Kuznetsov led Washington with six shots on net and 10 shot attempts … Ovechkin, Jakub Vrana and Tom Wilson each had three hits to lead the Caps … Wilson and Brooks Orpik each blocked three shots to lead Washington … The Caps won 40 of 76 draws (53 percent) in the game, the first time in eight games that they've won more than half of the game's face-offs.