Dec. 21 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Stream: MonSports.net/Stream
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (16-9-4)
Columbus Blue Jackets (11-17-5)
The Caps take to the road once again, traveling to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets on Thursday night. The contest is the back half of Washington’s third set of back-to-back games in a span of 13 nights; the Caps earned a hard-fought 3-2 overtime victory over the New York Islanders on Wednesday night in the District. Washington is 5-0-0 in the second half of back-to-backs this season, entering Thursday's game.
Dylan Strome scored a power-play goal at 1:41 of overtime to lift the Caps to victory over the Isles in a game in which they never trailed. Filling in for the ailing Connor McMichael, Hendrix Lapierre had a goal and an assist, and Darcy Kuemper picked up his third straight win with a 30-save performance.
Wednesday’s game was also noteworthy for the NHL debut of Ivan Miroshnichenko, Washington’s first-round pick (20th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft. Still several weeks shy of his 20th birthday, Miroshnichenko has rebounded from a bout with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a diagnosis he received in the midst of his draft year. He skated 10:14 in an impressive debut against the Isles, registering a couple of shots on net and three hits.
With Wednesday’s win, Washington now has points in six of its last seven games (4-1-2).
Although the Islanders – who were playing for the second time in as many nights on Wednesday – had the Caps on the ropes in the third period, Washington had a strong start and played with a great deal of pace and out-possessed the Islanders for most of the game’s first 40 minutes.
“We had some really great sequences in the offensive zone,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “We managed the puck, we had some good forecheck sequences; we’re getting pucks back. We did a way better job of recovering pucks off of an [offensive] zone sequence that would end with a delivery or a shot, and then we get it back, get it back on top, and get to our game again.
“So now you start to stress a team, and now you start to put them on their heels, to where the next time they exit, they’re just trying to change. And then you’re going neutral zone regroup and a quick up, and the next line is coming out and they’re playing [in the offensive zone]. That’s how you gain and sustain pressure, and it’s something that’s been a challenge for us of late, to have long stretches like that. But I thought the first 40 minutes, we had a bunch of those.”
Washington was tasked with three penalty kills and it had three power plays – including the overtime man advantage – on Wednesday, so it was able to manage minutes nicely for tonight’s game in Columbus. The Capitals eked out a pair of one-goal victories in their two previous meetings against the Jackets this season, games which were both played on Saturday nights in November. Washington earned a 2-1 win on Nov. 4 and a 4-3 victory two weeks later.
Thursday’s game in Columbus concludes the season’s series between the Caps and Blue Jackets, who only face one another three times this season.
Columbus is bringing up the rear of the Metropolitan Division standings, and the Jackets have had a tough go of it this season, going back to before training camp even started. But the Jackets can’t be taken lightly. They’re a team that pushes the pace with the puck, they’ve been feeling their offensive oats as of late, and they feature a roster that’s fairly well stacked with offensive talent.
The Jackets have scored five or more goals in a game on seven different occasions this season, including three of the last five. In their most recent game in Buffalo on Tuesday night, they netted nine goals – their single-game season high to date – in a 9-4 pummeling of the beleaguered Sabres. Columbus winger Kirill Marchenko paced that attack with a natural hat trick, the second hat trick of his career.
Tuesday’s offensive outburst was the biggest by the Blue Jackets since a 10-0 whitewash of the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 4, 2016.
While the Jackets rank 15th in the NHL with an average of 3.18 goals per game, they’re 31st in the circuit with an average of 3.64 goals against per game. Columbus has surrendered four or more goals in 18 of its 33 games this season, including four straight and six of the last seven.
