Caps Have Saturday Night Date with Jackets in Columbus
Caps finish up three-game road trip with the first of their two visits to Columbus this season
Washington concludes a difficult three-game road trip on Saturday night in Columbus when it faces the Blue Jackets for the second time this season, and for the first time in Ohio's capital city. The Jackets nipped the Caps 2-1 in Washington on Nov. 9, and the two Metropolitan Division foes will be battling it out for the top spot in the Metro standings on Saturday night in Columbus.
The Caps currently sit atop the Metro, owning a one-point lead over the Jackets. Saturday's game is the rubber game of the trip for Washington, which fell to the Golden Knights in Vegas on Tuesday but followed up with a 4-2 win over the Coyotes in Arizona on Thursday.
Andre Burakovsky scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal with 4:42 left in the third period in Thursday's win, supporting Pheonix Copley's sturdy 27-save effort in the Washington nets.
Winners of 11 of their last 16 games (11-5-0), the Caps are tied for the league's sixth best record over that stretch. They've scored 40 goals at five-on-five over that stretch, fifth most in the NHL during that span. The Caps have scored three or more goals in each of their last 10 games, the first time they've done so since a 10-game run from Feb. 7-26, 2016.
Three different lines were involved in the scoring of the Caps' first three goals on Thursday, and the reently minted trio of Jakub Vrana, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Brett Connolly stayed hot in combining for Washington's first goal of the game, off Vrana's stick.
It marked the sixth time this season Vrana has delivered the Caps' first goal of the game, tops on the team.
"I've really liked Jakub's game the whole year just because of his consistency," says Caps oach Todd Reirden. "He's just really maturing in front of our own eyes here and becoming a much better pro than he has been in the past. His speed is a factor, his release is great, he gets penalty shot tries. He's doing a lot of things to help us win games and that line has played well. Kuzy and him, they do some great things together when we pair them together. That was another good game from him."
Vrana has three goals in two games, and he has four goals and five points over his last six games. Kuznetsov has collected a point in 11 of his last 13 games, and he has a four-game scoring streak (one goal, four assists) since returning to the lineup after a six-game absence because of an upper body injury. Connolly has a goal and six points in his last six games.
The Caps have also been tighter defensively of late. Including Thursday's win over the Coyotes, the Caps have limited the opposition to two or fewer goals in nine of their last 16 games.
"We checked pretty well," said Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen after the win over the Coyotes. "We gave up a couple of really good chances, but I think we had the puck quite a bit and were on the attack for portions of the game. We stayed with it and battled back twice to tie the game and Burky found the winner there in the third with a nice play with some speed and a nice shot. Overall, a pretty good game for us."
Most importantly, it put the Caps back in the win column after a couple of painful losses in succession. Only 10 points separate the eight Metro denizens, so a steady diet of standings points is imperative, especially with two-thirds of the season still stretched out ahead. Washington hasn't gone as many as three games without recording a standings point in the equivalent of a season and a half, since a four-game drought from March 6-12, 2017.
Washington made a roster move on Friday afternoon, announcing the recall of forward Riley Barber from AHL Hershey. A sixth-round choice (167th overall) in the 2012 NHL Draft, Barber appeared in three games with the Caps in 2016-17. The Caps moved right wing T.J. Oshie (upper body injury) to long term injured reserve to accommodate the move, but Oshie has already missed the minimum number of games (10) for LTI placement, and he wasn't going to play on Saturday anyway, so he can come off that list and be activated whenever he is medically cleared to return.
Columbus comes into Saturday's skirmish with the Caps on the heels of a 4-3 overtime win over the Flyers in Philadelphia on Thursday. Seth Jones scored 10 seconds into overtime - the fastest overtime goal in Jackets' franchise history - to send Columbus home with two points.
With a strong wall play, Jackets winger and noted Caps-killer Cam Atkinson picked up an assist on Jones' game-winner, giving Atkinson a career-best 12-game scoring streak (13 goals, seven assists). He is now one game shy of matching the Columbus franchise standard established in 2014-15 when Ryan Johansen scored in 13 straight games.
Like the Caps, the Jackets ended a short two-game skid with their win on Thursday. The Jackets rebounded from a wild 9-6 home ice loss to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday.
