PENALTIES
Zach Werenski sat in the box for delay of game after lifting the puck out of play from his own zone.
“There was no time to sulk,” winger Matt Calvert said. “It’s playoffs. It’s about mental toughness. You adjust.”
The Jackets escaped unscathed with Jenner serving time but they “have to cure” their problem of taking penalties, coach John Tortorella said. During the regular season, the Jackets were shorthanded 214 times, an average of 2.6 per game and the second fewest in the NHL behind Carolina.
“It’s something we have to get straightened out as the series moves forward,” Tortorella said. “I thought we killed some really key penalties, and we had some breakdowns with our penalty killing. … It’s just too dangerous. You can see. (Alex) Ovechkin scores a couple, we take him away, and they’re just looking for (T.J.) Oshie then. We have a way of doing it, we just need to be more consistent doing it. But we can’t be doing it all that time. It’s just impossible. They’re too good.”
Ovechkin scored his first two goals of the series on power plays Sunday, and five of the Capitals’ seven goals in the series have come with a man-advantage. The Jackets’ own power-play success — they’re 4 of 8 — has helped offset the consequences of their 37 penalty minutes.
In the third period Sunday, the Jackets were called for three penalties in a span of less than six minutes. Jones said there seems to be an increase in penalties called throughout the NHL this postseason, but they must make sure they play more minutes at even strength.
“(The Capitals) don’t have much five-onfive, in my opinion. If we stay out of the box, they don’t have much,” Jones said. “That’s how it was in Game 1. That’s how it was (Sunday).”
Defenseman Ian Cole said the Jackets are happy with the way their penalty kill is trending, but know “we can still be a lot better.”
“We’re going to figure out ways to do a better job of shutting these guys down,” Cole said. “That being said, I don’t think you can entirely shut down a power play with these many weapons. The ability to keep it fiveon-five is paramount.”