Blue Jackets winning streak ends at 16 games

WASHINGTON-- The Washington Capitals ended the Columbus Blue Jackets' 16-game winning streak with a 5-0 victory at Verizon Center on Thursday.
The streak was the second-longest in NHL history, one behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, who won 17 in a row during the 1992-93 season.
"You can't win 'em all," Columbus forward Brandon Dubinsky said. "We had a heck of a run there and I'm proud of each and every guy. Guys have stepped up different nights. It's a tough feeling right now because it's a big game and I thought we had some guys that really played well tonight."

Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves for Columbus (27-6-4). His 14-game winning streak ended when he was pulled in the third period after allowing five goals on 23 shots. Curtis McElhinney made four saves in relief.
WATCH: All Blue Jackets vs. Capitals highlights
"Quite honestly I thought the first 30 minutes we were a good hockey club," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "We played well. We couldn't find a way on [Braden] Holtby, he made some great saves at key times, and then we kind of lost ourselves. ... I'm proud of the team. We're a good hockey team. They'll get a day off tomorrow and we'll get whacking at it again …"
Holtby made 29 saves for his fourth shutout of the season. Daniel Winnik, John Carlson, Nate Schmidt, Andre Burakovsky and Justin Williams scored for the Capitals (24-9-5), who are 7-2-2 in their past 11 home games.
"I wanted to stop the streak," Williams said. "Who wouldn't want to stop a streak? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about it, for sure. We got some big goals and some big saves. Was it a 5-0 game? No, I don't think so, but we turned it into that with some timely goaltending and some timely goals."

Winnik scored at 5:06 of the first period to make it 1-0. Carlson scored his fifth goal of the season at 11:32 of the first for a 2-0 lead. A puck deflected off his left skate on the rush.
Schmidt scored at 7:28 of the second period to give Washington a 3-0 lead. It was his first goal since Jan. 7, 2016 (67 games).
Burakovsky made it 4-0 at 16:27 of the second. He scored his fifth of the season off a Carlson feed from the slot.
Williams gave Washington a 5-0 lead at 5:36 of the third period. His 11th goal of the season was a tight-angle shot.

Goal of the game

Winnik capitalized on a loose puck in front of Bobrovsky for his sixth goal of the season.

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Save of the game

Bobrovsky stopped Winnik on a shorthanded chance in the second period with a sliding pad save.

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Highlight of the game

Schmidt scored on his rebound from the slot.

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They said it

"I wasn't happy with the way I played last game and not only the goals, just the way I felt and the way I was moving. Took the last couple days in practice and yesterday and the morning skate to work on a couple things I felt and felt a lot better today." -- Capitals goalie Braden Holtby, who was pulled in a 6-5 overtime win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday
"If we're [going to] go anywhere this year, it's [going to] be with everybody. Not just one line carrying the load. Lines get hot a certain times, but it's nice to get everybody rolling and everybody feeling good." -- Capitals forward Justin Williams

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Need to know

Columbus hadn't lost since Nov. 26, 2-1 in a shootout to the Florida Panthers, and not in regulation since Nov. 23, 2-0 to the Calgary Flames. … The Penguins winning streak ran from March 9-April 10, 1993. … Ovechkin had an assist on Schmidt's goal and is four points from becoming the 37th NHL player to score 1,000 with one franchise.

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What's next

Blue Jackets: At the New York Rangers on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; MSG2, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Capitals: At the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CITY, TVA Sports 2, CSN-DC, NHL.TV)