Washington finished up a three-game preseason road run on Thursday night in Columbus, and it did so on a winning note, taking a 4-2 decision from the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. The Caps won two of the three road tilts this week – improving to 3-1-1 on the preseason – and they now head home to face the Jackets again on Saturday night in D.C., in what is likely to be a dress rehearsal for the regular season for both teams.
Both the Caps and the Jackets – who were playing for the second time in as many nights – dressed youth-laced lineups that aren’t very similar to what they’ll look like next week when the bell rings. Washington turned in a dominant first-period performance, taking a 2-0 lead while vastly out-shooting and out-attempting its hosts.
“That was probably our best period of the preseason thus far, as far as controlling play,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “[Offensive] zone play was fantastic. The tides turned in the second, but the start was really good, and I thought we got on top of them right away.”
Both first-period goals came in similar fashion; the Caps established possession in the offensive zone, got a shot on net from a blueliner, a rebound, and a goal.
Beck Malenstyn started the scoring for the Capitals at 8:14 of the first. Alex Alexeyev fired from the top of the left circle, and Jackets’ goaltender Spencer Martin made the stop. But the puck bounced free in front of the Columbus net, with players from both sides hacking and whacking at it. Riley Sutter got enough of a piece of it to pick up the primary assist, but it was Malenstyn who swept it home from the top of the paint.
“That first period, we did a really good job ofmoving pucks around the offensive zone, and having guys diving in and out of holes,” says Malenstyn. “And I was just fortunate enough to be skating by the front of the net when it popped loose, so nothing fancy to it. I think it was just a testament to how well as a whole we were playing in that first period, of being able to create the offensive zone.”
Less than four minutes later, Aliaksei Protas doubled the Washington lead. Chase Priskie put a shot on net from the high slot, and Martin made the initial stop with his right pad. But Protas was in great position to shovel the rebound into the net on his backhand, making it a 2-0 game at 12:04.
As so often happens in hockey, the tables turned in the second period, and the Jackets dominated play for much of the middle frame. The first period was played entirely at even strength, and Washington owned a lopsided 27-11 advantage in shot attempts in the opening stanza. By the time Columbus went on the game’s first power play at 7:57 of the second, the Jackets had closed that gap to 28-25, and they’d cut the lead to 2-1.
Columbus netted its first goal of the game at 1:25 of the second when Brendan Gaunce swatted the puck into the net from the top of the paint on a goalmouth scramble, after Lindgren made the initial stop on a Justin Pearson shot from in tight, and Pearson missed the mark on a follow-up attempt.
Washington killed off the Columbus power play with aplomb, getting shot blocks from Malenstyn, Nick Jensen and Hardy Haman Aktell, and preventing the Jackets from getting any shots on Lindgren.
Lindgren made a terrific glove save on a James Malatesta shot from the slot, a short ice opportunity that came about as a result of a Washington turnover early in the second. At the opposite end of the rink, Martin made two excellent stops on Caps’ winger Ivan Miroshnichenko in the back half of the second, keeping the Jackets within a goal of the visitors.
“The start of the second, we were not good,” says Carbery. “Puck touches, lost structure. Chucky had to bail us out multiple times. really sloppy with boxing [out in front of the net]. We couldn't find structure through the neutral zone. Our defensive zone started to look a little sloppy; we’d lose coverage.”
The Caps nursed that 2-1 lead to the back half of the third, until Columbus went on the power play for a second time. Needing a kill to preserve their lead, the Caps did better. They got a shorthanded goal from Sutter to pad their lead.
The Jackets went for a change at an inopportune time, losing control of the puck high in their end as a Columbus player went to the bench. Sutter scooped it up and came in all alone on a breakaway, but Martin stopped his first try and Connor McMichael’s follow-up as well. But Sutter persisted, and popped the third try into the net at 14:55 of the third, giving the Caps a 3-1 lead.
“I was kind of caught by surprise to be honest,” recounts Sutter. “I didn’t think I was going to have that much time, but no one from their team was really going for the puck, and I heard someone yell, ‘Go!’ I just tried to get up there as quick as I can, and try to score.”
Hendrix Lapierre added an empty netter for Washington with 2:09 remaining, and Jackets blueliner Marcus Bjork scored exactly one minute later to account for the 4-2 final.
