P-L Dubois’ goal in the final second of the second period – on a two-man advantage – stood up as the game-winning goal on Monday night in Columbus as the Caps downed the Blue Jackets by a 3-2 count to improve to 2-3-0 on the preseason. The Caps conclude their six-game exhibition slate on Saturday night in the District when they host the Boston Bruins.
Logan Thompson stopped 24 of 26 shots in the Washington nets to notch his second win in as many preseason starts.
“The first [period] was a little shaky,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “Probably some good things, and some things we could have done a better job with. Second period was our best period. And the third, I didn't like it all, because you knew what was coming, right?
“They're down 3-1, so they're going to take some chances, and they're really good rush team. Their [defensemen] all can skate really well and give you issues, not only in zone, but up in the rush. They wanted to turn that game into a track meet and try to get up and down, and give us chances, but then they would get one at the other end. And we sort of played into their hand in the third period and gave up a lot of opportunities. But Logan was real solid, and we were able to hang on.”
For the second time in as many preseason games against Columbus, the Caps jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. Brandon Duhaime blunted a Columbus breakout bid at the Jackets line, nudging the puck into the zone for Nic Dowd, who carried down the left side and sniped a shot past the outstretched glove of Daniil Tarasov on the far side, lifting the Caps to a 1-0 lead at 6:49.
The Jackets responded with the tying tally on the game’s next shift. Columbus came 200 feet, starting with Denton Mateychuk behind the Jackets’ cage, and Mateychuk supplied the finish as well, taking a feed from Kirill Marchenko and firing a shot from the left circle to the twine at 7:12, just 23 seconds after the Dowd goal.
In the first minute of the middle period, the Caps regained the lead. Following a couple of Dowd chances from in tight, Tarasov covered, gaining a draw to his right. Dubois beat Sean Monahan on the drop, pulling the puck back to Trevor van Riemsdyk at the right point. From there, van Riemsdyk clapped a low, flat shot toward the net, and Tom Wilson redirected it through Tarasov at 48 seconds of the second period, just four seconds after the offensive zone face-off.
The game’s first penalties were whistled in the back half of the second. The Caps killed off a Wilson interference minor without incident just after the midpoint of the frame, and Columbus answered in kind, snuffing out a Washington power play with Damon Severson off for holding Jakub Vrana as the latter was driving the Columbus net.
But in the final minute of the frame, the Jackets committed a pair of minors that put the Caps on a two-man advantage of 104 seconds in duration.
First, Marchenko was boxed for boarding Duhaime at 19:28, a play that briefly raised tempers on both sides. Sixteen seconds later, veteran blueliner Erik Gudbranson joined him after issuing a high stick to the grill of Ivan Miroshnichenko. With 15.3 seconds left in the period, the Caps went to work in the offensive zone.
A Hendrix Lapierre shot from the middle of the ice was high, but Miroshnichenko quickly retrieved it and left it for Wilson on the left side. Wilson threaded a sharp cross-crease feed for Dubois, a lefty shot stationed on the goal line not far off the right post. Dubois shelved it to the far side to make it a 3-1 game, doing so with six-tenths of a second to spare.
“Lappy was calling for it; he really wanted it,” recounts Wilson. “I think it might have baited the [defender] a little bit. And I just slid it over to Dubie. We were just taking advantage of an odd-man situation front, and he did a good job burying it.”
He did, but was he sure he beat the buzzer?
“Yeah, I thought so,” says Dubois. “But nobody reacted, so I didn’t react either. I had no ida what was going on. But yeah, I had a feeling.”
Thompson made his best stop of the night to deny Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski’s breakaway bid just before the midpoint of the third, keeping the Caps’ two-goal cushion intact. But the Jackets did close to within a goal with another rush tally, this one from Luca Del Bel Belluz at 14:58.
Columbus coach Dean Evason pulled Tarasov with about three and a half minutes remaining, and the Caps weathered the Jackets’ late push to seal the victory.
“Today was kind of a harder day with the [early] travel and all that,” says Thompson. “So I didn’t feel great, but it’s a great team win in the end. I think it just shows how tight we are, and we pull together and get the two points.”
