What We Learned: CBJ 3, WSH 6

They came out strong, hitting everything that moved and playing with desperation.
They fell behind, though, again, for the fifth time in six games and had to battle back, again, for the fifth time in six games of the Blue Jackets' Eastern Conference First Round series against the Washington Capitals.
They came up short, again, for the fourth straight time - fourth and final time in the series - falling 6-3 in Game 6 to end a series filled with overtimes, along with a pair of Blue Jackets road victories in the first two games.
"We chased it through the whole series," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "It's hard to play that way. We get in the playoffs by being able to handle those situations [in the regular season], but you can't go as many games as we did here, chasing it."

Alex Ovechkin scored two goals, defenseman Dmitry Orlov scored one and the Capitals got two huge goals early in the third period from Devante Smith-Pelly and Chandler Stephenson, who scored back-to-back goals 1:34 apart to blow the game open.
As a result, Columbus is still chasing its goal of making a deeper run into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, too.
The Blue Jackets had a 2-0 lead in this series, but they were standing in quicksand, slowly sinking deeper into the muck during a series Washington won by rattling off four straight wins -- something the Capitals hadn't done in the playoffs since 1990.
"It stings," said Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno, who scored goals in the second and third periods, trying to breathe life into his team. "We had a real good opportunity, being up 2-0 [in the series], and didn't make the most of it. That's how fine it is to win. It's hard. It's hard in the postseason to close out things. The efforts were there. Missed the net by inches, blocked shots by sticks just getting in the way. It's just a hard pill to swallow right now."
It's hard because this series was decided by a razor's edge for all but one game, the fourth one, which tied it 2-2 after the Jackets received the business end of a double-overtime bounce in Game 3.
Otherwise, five of the six games combined to make this the most entertaining series of the first round.
That includes this game, which wasn't really out of reach for Columbus until the third, after rookie center Pierre-Luc Dubois pulled the Blue Jackets within 3-2 at 2:25 and the Capitals responded with back-to-back goals.
Smith-Pelly, a third-line forward, hopped on a turnover and carried it up the left wing for a wrist shot that beat goalie Sergei Bobrovsky high to the far side of the net, zipping over his catching glove.
Just like that, it was 4-2.
"It's tough to recover," Tortorella said. "They were pretty stingy. I give Washington credit for, through the series, how well they defended. We felt we might be able to get something going against them. They defended hard. So, we claw back into it and you're just beginning to role your lines a little bit … it's a tough one to come back from."
It got even tougher 1:34 later, when the Jackets coughed another one up on the power play.
Chandler Stephenson scored on the shorthanded breakaway to make it 5-2 at 5:30, tucking the puck through the five hole, and the Capitals suddenly had a three-goal cushion. Foligno scored the second of his goals at 8:22, cutting it to 5-3, but the quicksand was already too deep.
There was nobody around to pull the Jackets out and another first-round disappointment swallowed them up.
Columbus exited the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the first round for the fourth time in as many appearances for the franchise, and afterward the sting resonated around the locker room.
"For sure, it's tough," said Bobrovsky, who had his first rough game of the series. "There was one bounce away or, like, one shot away [in Game 3] and you never know what's going to happen, but I don't believe [in] luck. I think luck [is] on the side of the stronger, and it is what it is. I don't believe that [they're] just lucky. Of course, you want to go further, you want to win the Cup, but you have the reality. And we lose, 4-2."
Here's what we learned:
I: CHASING THE GAME
Orlov's goal at 12:12 of the first gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead. It was their fifth such lead in the six-game series, with the Jackets only scoring first in a 4-3 overtime loss in Game 5 on Saturday.
Washington also held four 2-0 leads and nearly had a fifth, were it not for the Blue Jackets getting a goal overturned on a missed offside call in Game 3.
"It affects how you go about some of your business with your lines in certain minutes of the game," Tortorella said. "The better team won. Bigger plays at key times."
II: CAPS' STARS SHINE BRIGHT
The Capitals have a number of stars dotting their roster and virtually all played up to their capabilities, in this game and series.
Ovechkin's goals were his fifth and sixth - not to mention his seventh and eighth points - in six games. Defenseman John Carlson also had nine (one goal, eight assists), including points in five of six. Nicklas Backstrom had eight points (two goals, six assists). Evgeny Kuznetsov had seven points (four goals, three assists).
Then there was goalie Braden Holtby, who stopped 137 of 147 shots after taking over for Philipp Grubauer to start the third period of Game 2 in Washington. Holtby allowed the game-winning goal in that game by Matt Calvert but earned wins in the next four games by returning to form.
"He was outstanding for us," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. "I mean, you look at Braden, his body of work in four games was tremendous. I thought he made huge saves at important times in the game, in every game of the last four."
The Blue Jackets' star players also made some noise, but not enough in the final four games.
III: LINEUP SHAKEUP
The Blue Jackets had the puck more and attempted more shots during 5-on-5 in Game 5, but Tortorella must not have liked something about the forward setup. He switched the forward lines to start Game 6 and switched them again throughout.
Initially, the top line of Artemi Panarin, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Cam Atkinson was the only one that stayed intact. The next three were all mixed up.
Matt Calvert and Josh Anderson moved up to the wing positions on the second line, flanking Alex Wennberg. Boone Jenner moved to the third line, playing right wing instead of the left side, with Foligno in the middle and Oliver Bjorkstrand at left wing.
Thomas Vanek was moved to left wing on the fourth line, from right wing on Wennberg's line, playing with Mark Letestu and Brandon Dubinsky.
The Jackets were outshot 10-7 in the first period, allowed Orlov's goal and the lines changed again, before the period ended. Tortorella reunited Panarin and Dubois with Anderson at one point, a trio that was highly effective for a couple months in the regular season, but then put Calvert with Panarin and Dubois.
IV: MORE PENALTY ISSUES
The first period was good for the Blue Jackets in terms of penalties. There was nothing called on either team.
The second period was a different story, as penalties and power plays played a big role. The Jackets were whistled for three penalties, including Boone Jenner and Josh Anderson called for back-to-back minors for interference and high-sticking 1:29 apart.
That created a 5-on-3 for the Capitals, who'd already scored a 5-on-3 goal earlier in the series. Washington didn't score on this one, as the Jackets killed it off and soon tied it 1-1 on Foligno's goal four minutes later.
Ovechkin, however, put the Capitals up, 2-1, at 12:50 with an even-strength goal off a rebound - the 50th playoff goal of his NHL career - and his next goal was a power-play dagger. Seth Jones was called for holding, a call that Jones debated on the ice, and Ovechkin made it hurt even worse by putting Washington up 3-1 just 1:13 later.
Columbus was whisted for 28 penalties in the series, which was 11.2 percent of their entire penalty total in 82 games of the regular season. The Jackets were called for 251 penalties and assessed 565 penalty minutes, which were the second-fewest penalties in the NHL and third-lowest minutes.
"It's something we're trying to cure," Tortorella said before the game. "I wouldn't say it's surprised me, but there's points of emphasis - especially the stick fouls. That's what we have to get out of our game is our stick fouls. We have to check with our legs and not use our stick for checking, because they're calling it pretty closely, on both sides."
In six games against the Capitals, the Blue Jackets averaged 4.7 penalties and 11.2 penalty minutes per game.
"You can see where they get their momentum," Tortorella said. "I think we've done a pretty good job 5-on-5 right on through this series, but their power play picked it up a little bit, and they have a 5-on-3 goal in the series. That helps their top players, and we can't give them that many opportunities. You give Washington more than three, you're in trouble."
V: CAPTAINS NEVER QUIT
His first goal tied it, 1-1, bringing Jackets fans to life in the second period. Foligno's second goal only brought Columbus within 5-3 in the third, but showed exactly why he wears the "C" on his sweater.
After the goals by Smith-Pelly and Stephenson, Columbus could've easily packed it in right then and played out the string, down by three goals. They did just the opposite, pushing hard to the end, led by their captain.
"I was fully prepared to talk about a win and start getting ready to go to [Washington for Game 7], so this is ... I'm not really sure what to say right now," Foligno said. "I haven't really dissected everything, but it was a good series. Four overtime games. I think we learned a lot about ourselves, but I've got to be honest with you. I'm tired of learning. I want to continue to get better and continue to move on."
VI: POWER PLAYS MADE A DIFFERENCE
The Blue Jackets started out going 2-for-4 on power plays in each of the first two games.
That was the end of their man-advantage scoring. The Capitals made a couple adjustments prior to Game 3 and proceeded to keep the puck out of the net while shorthanded the rest of the series.
Washington went 9-for-27 on the power play in the series (33.3 percent). Columbus went 4-for-25 (16 percent), including 0-for-17 after Zach Werenski's power-play goal in the second period of Game 2. In a series this tight, with three games ending in overtime and another stretching to double-OT, that was a big factor.
"They have a good power play and we needed to get ours going, and make sure our penalty-kill was great," Foligno said. "Tonight, our penalty-kill was real good, except for giving them that one, and then our power play just didn't get the job done again. It's weird, because at the beginning of the series, our power play was going. We were scoring at will, and for whatever reason it dried up. We've got to figure that out."
VII: PANARIN SLOWED
The Blue Jackets' leading scorer got off to a blazing start to the series, racking up seven points (two goals, five assists) in the first three games. After that, he didn't have a point in the final three.
The Capitals paid extra attention to him during power plays, which was part of it, but also became stiffer through the middle of the ice during 5-on-5, taking away space from Panarin, Cam Atkinson and others. The Russian star also got hit in the side of the knee early in Game 5 with an inadvertant skate and played through pain the rest of that game plus Game 6.
"Yeah, last game I could feel it," Panarin said through a translator. "I was trying to use some pain-killers. It didn't help a lot, but I can still feel it."
Panarin said the injury isn't serious.
VIII: CALVERT FINISHES STRONG
Matt Calvert assisted on Dubois' goal to finish with four points (three goals, one assist) in the series. Calvert was the Jackets' leading goal-scorer in the series and became their all-time leading scorer in the playoffs with 10 points (six goals, four assists) in 16 games.
"Calvy's got [guts]," Tortorella said. "He's not afraid of anything. He's not afraid of the situation. I just think he's got some old school in him and things don't bother him. He's up and down sometimes, like a toilet seat, as far as how he's dead-on and then he makes a huge mistake … he's been one of our best players that I don't think anybody could see coming."
IX: COMRADE IN HARMS
Last season, Orlov scored a goal against Bobrovsky for the first time in his NHL career. The two are each from Novokuznetsk, a city in Russia's Siberian region, and are friends when not playing against each other.
Fans jokingly gave Bobrovsky a hard time last summer about Orlov's goal against him, to which the goalie responded at the start of this series: "They don't see how many times he doesn't score."
This time, Orlov scored his first career playoff goal gainst Bobrovsky.
X: ROLLING THREE
The Blue Jackets' fourth line had three veterans, but they didn't go over the boards much. Thomas Vanek logged 8:35, including 2:30 of power-play time, Mark Letestu played 5:31 and Brandon Dubinsky finished with 4:09 on eight shifts.
Columbus had established a solid four-line rotation during the stretch run of the regular season, but the bench shortened in the playoffs.