Capitals, Blue Jackets already set nasty tone
WASHINGTON • Columbus captain Nick Foligno still had blood splattered across his nose and cheek, courtesy of a slap shot he took to the face early in the third period of Thursday night’s 4-3 overtime win over Washington.
His visor took the brunt of the shot, but the puck had caught Foligno just enough to send him to the ice. He eventually climbed to his feet and skated off, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.
After the team’s medical team deemed him fit to return to the ice — “Hurry up and get the blood off me and let’s go,” the Blue Jackets captain told them — Foligno quickly rushed from the locker-room back to his bench and helped galvanize his team’s resilient effort down the stretch, which included a pair of game-tying goals on power plays and the eventual game-winner from Artemi Panarin in overtime.
“It’s going to be a helluva series,” Foligno said.
If his face was emblematic of anything, it’s that this series has bloody potential. It began Thursday with a firstperiod hit from Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson on Capitals defenceman Michal Kempny, who didn’t return and will be re-evaluated Friday for a possible head injury. It continued with another hit by Washington’s Tom Wilson on Alexander Wennberg, who left the game in the third period. Those two moments — not to mention Foligno’s close call or the string of other collisions that left sticks flying and boards rattling — set the tone for a series.
This is largely what both teams expected in the buildup to Game 1 yet maybe neither likely thought it would be addressing controversial plays so early in the series. While Anderson was not expected to face further punishment — Columbus coach John Tortorella declined to comment on the hit — Wilson could be facing a suspension after his shot to the head of Wennberg.
That underscored the challenge for Washington. By pushing to match the physicality of Columbus, it strayed from discipline at times Thursday night. It led to a penalty-riddled performance and the pair of power play goals by the Blue Jackets in the third that led to the Capitals’ undoing.
The first costly penalty came on Wilson’s hit against Wennberg. “I’m just trying to finish my check there. I’m obviously not trying to take a penalty. That cost us the game. That’s a critical moment. I’ve got to be better and maybe pass up on that hit,” Wilson said. “We’ve got the lead there so maybe a big hit’s not needed.”
There was plenty of clean hitting too. Columbus defenceman Ian Cole staggered back to the bench after colliding with Washington’s Brooks Orpik in the third period. Tortorella made a point to ask Cole if he was all right.
“He says, ‘Yeah, it was a great hit,’” Tortorella said. “And it was. And that’s what you love about (Cole). He’s not complaining about it. It was a great hit by Orpik. It was a good hockey play.”