A month ago tonight in Columbus, the Caps took a 5-1 decision over the Blue Jackets in a game that was closer than the score would indicate; Washington needed a 34-save effort from Logan Thompson and a cluster of goals beginning late in the second period to put the home team away.
On Monday night in the District, the Caps took down the Jackets by an identical score, but this time it was defense and offense from the defense that got the job done. Jakob Chychrun scored twice, and the Caps got four goals and five points from their back end in tonight’s 5-1 triumph over their division rivals from Ohio.
Thompson was pulled from his previous start after yielding four goals on six shots in the first period, but he was back on the beam tonight, making 22 saves to nail down his ninth victory of the season.
As they did in Columbus last month, the Caps broke open a tight game starting late in the second period with another cluster of goals.
“I thought we did a tremendous job of being willing and committed to checking these guys and playing to our structure and not deviating, and just stay with it, stay with it, stay with it,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “And we work our way through that game; didn't change at 1-0.
“And then we earn a few breaks there at the end of the second period, and next thing you know, it’s 4-0, because we committed to doing those things early in that hockey game. And I thought it was our whole group from start to finish.”
Coming into Monday’s game, the Caps had scored the game’s first goal within the game’s first four minutes in four straight games. They were slackers on Monday; it took them just over six minutes to get it done. But they did it with their first shot on Jackets netminder Elvis Merzlikins.
Ryan Leonard carried into Columbus ice and into the slot, but his shot try was blunted by a Blue Jackets defender. Not to worry, kid. Chychrun collected it and rifled it past Merzlikins on the stick side for a 1-0 Washington lead at 6:05 of the first.
With that goal, Chychrun extended his scoring streak to a career-high eight games (five goals, six assists). It’s the longest streak by an NHL blueliner this season.
The rest of the first was rather quiet. There were no penalties and only 13 face-offs, and neither team had much room to work with in the offensive zone. Thompson made his best save of the frame late when he got a piece of Denton Mateychuk’s tip-in try from in tight.
The Caps broke it open in the second, but not until the final few minutes. They had to snuff out a Columbus power play early in the frame, and Thompson’s glove save on a Mateychuk one-timer from the high slot shortly after the midpoint of the period preserved the Caps’ precarious one-goal lead.
But as they did a month ago tonight in Columbus, the Caps broke open a tight contest with a trio of tallies clustered together. A month ago, it was three goals in just under five minutes of playing time, starting in the 19th minute of the middle period.
Tonight, the Caps started and finished their holiday shopping early.
Justin Sourdif is growing into a force of an NHL player before our eyes over the last several games, and that process continued Monday night.
From high in Washington ice, John Carlson sent a feed to Sourdif near the Columbus line. Sourdif carried down the right side, drawing coverage and protecting the puck, and then leaving a neat backhand dish for supporting linemate Aliaksei Protas, who was a conduit, shoveling directly to Tom Wilson on the weak side. All Wilson had to do was hit the net and he did, completing the tic-tac-toe tally to extend the Washington lead to 2-0 at 16:29.
“He's super creative,” says Wilson of Sourdif. “And we've been creating a lot the last handful of games, and just really haven't found the back of the net. We've been doing everything but scoring, and we've had our looks. So it was kind of a matter of time, and that's two world-class plays by both those guys, and it leaves me with an open net.
“It’s fun. Pro and I obviously are big bodies. And then, Sordie just doing his thing in the middle, playing his game, playing creative; it compliments us well.”
The real fireworks came in the waning seconds of the middle period. Washington earned its first power play of the game with 50.3 seconds left in the second, and Chychrun buried a precision wrist shot on the power play with 14.7 seconds left in the frame, making it 3-0.
Chychrun has now had a dozen multi-goal games in his career, and his stick is as hot as anyone’s in the League, but despite the lengthy heater, he says he feels no differently going into games these days.
“I honestly think if guys weren't telling me I was on a point streak, I wouldn't even know,” says Chychrun. “I'm not really big with stats, or I don't check the all the stat sheets like [Dylan Strome] does. I just come out, show up and prepare like it's any other game. Try to get my body ready and give my best effort for the team.”
The Caps weren’t done though. In the first meeting between the two teams in Columbus last month, the Caps worked the “pocket play” to perfection early in the third period, when Dylan Strome won a face-off directly to Alex Ovechkin, and the Caps’ captain fired it home two seconds after the draw.
Tonight, with 4.7 seconds remaining in the second period and a right dot offensive zone draw looming, Carbery called Connor McMichael off and put the right-handed Sourdif out to take the draw. Ovechkin was in the pocket, just waiting for the rookie center to win the face-off.
Sourdif won it, and he won it directly to Ovechkin, who – instead of trying to shoot through a wall of defenders – wisely bumped it to Carlson. Carlson clapped a one-timer past Merzlikins to make it a 4-0 Washington lead at second intermission.
That was game over right there.
“It's a great play by those guys to have the intelligence to know what was going on, the hockey IQ to move that puck right there, and John's ready for that,” says Carbery. “And that's a big goal. That – to me – is the goal that just says, ‘All right, this game is over, and we're going to end it right now.’”
Carlson’s crafty goal was the second by a Caps defenseman in a dozen seconds, the fastest two tallies by a pair of Washington blueliners in franchise history, bumping Rick Green and Robert Picard from the record book after a lengthy residency of nearly 47 years (Jan. 3, 1979).
In the third, McMichael made a nifty play to set up Martin Fehervary’s second goal of the season at 4:05, closing out Washington’s scoring for the night with their fourth goal in a span of 7:36 of playing time.
Mateychuk broke Thompson’s shutout, but it took three tries to beat the Caps’ goalie; Thompson made two quick stops on Cameron Gaunce before Mateychuk pounced upon and potted the rebound at 5:55.
Thompson’s bounce back effort resulted in his 40th win (40-12-7) in a Washington sweater; he did it in 59 games which matches Ilya Samsonov for the fewest games to 40 victories in franchise history.
“That was a lot more fun than last game, for sure,” says Thompson. “It’s nice. I’ve said it many times; it’s the life of a goalie. Sometimes games go like that, four goals on six shots. Other games, you get a little more puck luck.
“It was nice for Carbs to let me get right back in there, and I felt really good tonight. I thought overall, it was just a perfect team game from everyone.”
Facing the Caps for the first time in nearly two years, Merzlikins lost his sixth straight start against Washington on Monday, yielding four or more goals against the Caps for the fourth time in seven career starts.
Surrendering five goals on 31 shots, Elvis left the building with a bloated GAA (3.55) and a sagging save pct. (.894).
“We played like crap, all around,” says Jackets coach Dean Evason, asked for his biggest takeaway from the game. “We played poorly. We tried in spurts, certainly early in the game. But our overall game cannot be that poor.”
