Jackets schooled
Capitals deliver punishing lesson in playing with lead
After losing multiple-goal leads in three straight games, the Blue Jackets got a clinic in how to protect them from the defending Stanley Cup champions.
The Washington Capitals built an early three-goal lead and then turned it into a 4-0 victory on Saturday at Nationwide Arena, the first of a season-high, six-game homestand for the Blue Jackets (16-11-2). Capitals 4, Blue Jackets 0
Instead of racing out to an early lead, the Blue Jackets were outplayed, outshot and outscored by the Capitals (17-9-3), who evened the season series at one win apiece.
“This team knows how to win,” captain Nick Foligno said of the Capitals, who’ve won nine of their past 11 games and lead the Metropolitan Division by three points over the Jackets. “They taught us that. Look what they did. They didn’t allow us anything.”
Brett Connolly, Dmitrij Jaskin and Alex Ovechkin all scored in the first period for Washington, which outshot the Blue Jackets 13-8 in that period and forced a goaltending switch to start the second. Joonas Korpisalo made 14 saves in relief of Sergei Bobrovsky, who played the entire first period.
Bobrovsky has allowed 11 goals on 39 shots in his past two home starts, including eight on 26 shots on Tuesday in a 9-6 loss to the Calgary Flames. A
number of those goals were the result of odd bounces, deflections and defensive miscues, and this game was no different.
“I was not going to have Bob eat more goals, the way we were playing in front of him,” coach John Tortorella said, showing clear frustration with another home-ice dud.
Connolly made it 1-0 just 1:42 into the game, scoring off a 2-on-1 rush that started with a blocked shot in the Capitals’ zone. Jaskin made it 2-0 at 10:19, after the puck bounced off him into the net, and Ovechkin pushed it to 3-0 with 18.8 seconds left— tapping home a pass from Michal Kempny while unchecked to extend his point streak to 11 games.
“That third one really (ticked) me off,” Foligno said. “We’re (down) 2-0, you might come back. You get 3-0, it just can’t happen. That’s the stuff that great teams don’t do.”
Cam Atkinson’s career-high point streak ended at 12, one shy of tying the franchise record, as the Blue Jackets struggled to get much going. Washington added its fourth goal by Travis Boyd in the third, after controlling play for most of the first 40 minutes.
Columbus had a couple offensive flurries, but didn’t score thanks to missed shots and goalie Braden Holtby — who made 28 saves for his second shutout of the season.
Columbus, which went 0 for 4 on power plays, won its previous game 4-3 in overtime Thursday at the Philadelphia Flyers— winning despite blowing a 3-1 lead in the third period. It was the third straight game the Jackets had lost a lead of at least two goals, dropping the first two.
This one presented a
chance for the Jackets' own comeback, but the Capitals wouldn’t allow it.
“That’s kind of the way things are in the NHL,” said center Brandon Dubinsky, who placed blame for two goals on himself.
“No lead’s safe, but I think they showed why they’re the Stanley Cup champs. When you get leads, you’ve got to find a way to lock it down and they did that.”
bhedger@dispatch.com @BrianHedger