The Columbus Blue Jackets have extended their winning streak to five games, as they took the second of five meetings on the year against the Washington Capitals in a 3-2 overtime win.
Nick Foligno was the unsung hero of the day for Columbus, scoring the first and last (which turned out to be the game winning) goals for the Blue Jackets, taking the extra point from the Caps and notching their 11th win on the year. It was the Capitals who would strike first though, as an early 5-on-3 power play opportunity set Washington up offensively, and a tip-in right in front of Sergei Bobrovsky gave the Caps a 1-0, and marked the fourth game in a row in which the Capitals had scored in the opening four minutes. The goal was credited to Eric Fehr. Up to that point in the opening period, and really throughout the whole opening 20 minutes, it was a real slow game – both teams looked liked they had played three overtimes the night before.
The Jackets would retaliate with less than five minutes to play in the first, as they took advantage of a Captials’ mistake on trying to clear the puck, and Foligno found the puck on his stick, skate from the blueline to the point, and let one fly, just squeezing by Braden Holtby. Boom. 1-1.
Whatever the first period lacked, the second sort of made up for in terms of pace. Both teams got their legs under them, and it was the Blue Jackets who looked like the better of the two teams. After being outshot 13-6 in the first period, the Jackets rattled off the first nine shots of the second and had the momentum swing their way. Holtby stood tall though, and the second remained scoreless.
In the third, it was again the CBJ who looked like the better of the two teams and were rolling right along. That is, of course, until the Caps took a 2-1 lead on another tip in in front of Bob, as Troy Brouwer was the one to guide the puck top shelf just past Bobrovsky’s shoulder. It didn’t take long for Columbus to respond, as Kevin Connauton scored his second goal as a Jacket (both have been so timely. His pickup is looking better and better) took a shot from the blueline and it trickled past the left pad and skate and found the back of the net. Boom. 2-2.
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The Jackets took their only lead of the game on the game winner from Foligno. With just under two minutes to go in the overtime,
Jason Chimerawas sent to the sin-bin for tripping, and Columbus was afforded a last-ditch power play. The Caps, however, did wonders with their penalty kill, keeping the Jackets from setting up any real offensive opportunities until the final 25 seconds. Luckily for the Blue Jackets, that was more than enough time, as Foligno once again found the back of the net, this time on a slap shot from beyond the faceoff circle, and that was all she wrote. Coming to an end was the Caps’ three game win streak, a Jackets’ slide in the Verizon Center and an extension to the Columbus winning streak.
If the Jackets were still in the midst of their eight-game winning streak, or, at least, playing like they were during that losing streak, this would have been a 3-0 game after one period. Even if this had gone the other way, you can still see the progression the Jackets have made as they’ve been getting guys back and playing with more and more confidence. Bob stood on his head again (the Blue Jackets were once again way outshot, 41-23) and Columbus played Little Turd hockey. It was awesome.
The Jackets will get another shot at the Caps in a week, but first, it’s a matchup with the Penguins on Saturday.