Caps Open Trip in Columbus
Caps open set of road back-to-backs vs. Jackets on Thursday
The Caps take to the road once again, heading out for a set of late week back-to-back games against a pair of Metropolitan Division opponents. First, they're in Columbus on Thursday night to finish off their four-game season's series with the Blue Jackets. The Caps finish the trip on Friday night in Carolina.
The last time the Caps were in Columbus was back on Nov. 12 when they came into town on the back half of a set of back-to-backs after Zach Fucale blanked the Red Wings in Detroit in his NHL debut a night earlier. Washington downed the Jackets 4-3 on that Friday night, winning its third straight game when Conor Sheary scored the game-winner with 1:22 left in regulation to snap a 3-3 tie. Garnet Hathaway had a pair of goals in the second period of that game for the Capitals.
Washington's previous visit to Ohio's capital city this season came during the midst of a seven-game point streak (6-0-1), and the Caps return to town with a six-game point streak in tow (5-0-1) this time around. The Caps face the Jackets on the heels of a 4-3 shootout win over the New York Islanders in Washington on Tuesday, a game in which Caps captain Alex Ovechkin scored late in the third period to pass Jaromir Jagr (766) for the NHL's all-time goal scoring lead among European-born players.
"it's a colossal milestone," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "The League's been running for a long time. There's been a lot of players that have come through it. To move into third all-time and pass a great player like Jaromir Jagr - I had a chance to coach him, and what a player he was - and to pass him and to continue to move up the list, is pretty special. It's special for Ovi, for his family, for the guys in the room - especially the ones that have been here with him for a long time - and for the fan base that's been here and supporting him. What a great night, a special night."
With Tuesday's win over the Islanders, Washington improved to 5-0-1 in March. The Caps won only four games in both January (4-6-2) and February (4-6-0).
"We need this confidence," says Caps defenseman Dmitry Orlov. "We need it before playoffs; start getting some wins and start getting confidence, and to play good in different situations, if we are up or if we are down. We need to manage the game the right way and already our mindset should be like we are going to play at playoff time."
Minutes before Ovechkin scored his historic goal, rookie Washington winger Axel Jonsson-Fjallby converted an Orlov setup for his first career NHL goal. When the Caps were in Columbus in November, Jonsson-Fjallby recorded his first career point - an assist on one of Hathaway's goals - in his third game in the NHL.
With Tuesday's tally, he becomes the ninth different player to score his first NHL goal for the Caps this season, the most players Washington has had achieve that feat since 1981-82.
Jonsson-Fjallby was the Caps' fifth-round pick (147th overall) in the 2016 NHL Draft, and he was claimed off waivers from Washington by Buffalo in late September, when the Caps attempted to assign him to AHL Hershey. When the Sabres tried to send him to AHL Rochester a week later, the Caps reclaimed the fleet-footed, 24-year-old Stockholm native.
With Hershey this season, Jonsson-Fjallby broke out offensively with 16 goals and 34 points in 44 games. Recalled from Hershey on March 4, he has played in each of the Caps' last five games, recording a goal and an assist in that span.
"For me, being claimed by Buffalo gave me confidence," says Jonsson-Fjallby. "Then I knew people saw me as [someone who] could maybe play in the NHL. And coming back [to Washington] was hard for me. I still had the confidence, and I felt great playing in Hershey. Getting called up was also great for my confidence. And I feel like this time getting called up and playing in my 10th game was kind of a relief. It makes me more comfortable and I can play my game."
In each of their last four games, the Caps have found themselves trailing in the third period. And in each of the four, they've managed to rally and claim at least a point (3-0-1), with one of the wins coming in overtime and one in the shootout.
"I'd like to get a lead and move on from it," says Laviolette. "That's the hand that was dealt, and you've got to give the guys credit. Every minute that played on in [Tuesday's win], I thought we put our best foot forward. The overtime was our best, but the third period was good enough to get us back in the game."
With 21 games to go for both teams, a total of 11 points separates the fourth-place Caps from the fifth-place Jackets in the Metro standings and in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Now at the tail end of a stretch in which it plays nine of 11 games on home ice, Columbus took a quick trip north of the border to hand the Senators a 4-1 setback in Ottawa on Wednesday night.
Wednesday's win in Ottawa was the Jackets' third straight victory. During this recent home-heavy stretch, Columbus has been hot on home ice. The Jackets have won their last two games her, and they have earned points in five of their last six (3-1-2) at Nationwide Arena.
