The Blue Jackets completed the preseason with a 2-1 loss at Washington on Saturday night.
Game in a Paragraph
For the second time this week against the Caps, the Blue Jackets had an advantage in shots on goal and scoring chances but couldn’t beat goalie Logan Thompson enough to get a win. Columbus had a 30-22 edge in shots on goal – 21-10 in the final two periods – but the Capitals took a 2-0 lead in the second period and held on in the third despite a late CBJ goal with an extra attacker.
CBJ Standouts
- Mathieu Olivier scored for the second straight game against the Capitals and finished with six hits. He finished the preseason with three goals.
- Elvis Merzlikins stopped 20 of 22 shots against.
Quote of the Game
Head coach Dean Evason: “We liked a lot of stuff that we did here tonight. We talked this morning about looking for our exits out of our zone and creating some speed and some pace. We did that. We didn’t generate a lot of – we had shots but not as maybe as we probably could have. We should have shot more pucks. That'll be an area we’ll talk about.”
How It Happened
There was no score through 20 minutes, but the posts and crossbars were in part to thank. Washington rang the iron twice behind Merzlikins, as Pierre-Luc Dubois hit the post through a screen early and Connor McMichael later drilled the crossbar after the Caps forced a turnover. On the other side, the Jackets had a similar chance, stealing the puck to set up a Zach Aston-Reese look in front, but he hit the post to the blocker side of Thompson.
Washington was outshot 10-3 in the second period but took a 2-0 lead in the frame thanks to goals from Declan Chisholm and Dubois. Chisholm started the scoring 2:38 into the frame as Ryan Leonard fed Ivan Miroshnichenko in the slot, and he laid it off to the onrushing Chisholm to fire through a screen from the left side of the slot. Then at 10:03, Dubois completed a 2-on-1 by looking pass and then firing past Merzlikins’ blocker from the right circle.
Merzlikins made a pair of stops on Tom Wilson early in the third period to keep the Blue Jackets in the game, then Thompson starred down the stretch. The Washington netminder stopped Yegor Chinakhov on a pair of chances near the midway point and then made excellent saves on Olivier and Boone Jenner to keep it a 2-0 game. Columbus finally beat him when Olivier banged home a rebound of Adam Fantilli’s shot on a 6-on-4 advantage with 1:46 left, but that was all the Jackets could get past Thompson.
Notable
With the power-play goal, Columbus finished the preseason 6-for-23 (26.1 percent) on the man advantage. ... The Blue Jackets had a 34-24 edge in hits, with Olivier and Jenner each posting six. ... Placed on a line together, the Russian trio of Chinakhov, Kirill Marchenko and Dmitri Voronkov and Chinakhov combined for eight shots on goal at 5-on-5.
Roster Report
Here is the roster the Blue Jackets used for the game. Columbus chose to rest veterans Sean Monahan and Zach Werenski for the contest.
Up Next
The Blue Jackets have completed the preseason and will begin the regular season campaign Thursday at Nashville.
