A tired Washington Capitals team had to dig deep to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night. With big goals from deep players like Hathaway and Sheary, that’s exactly what they did.
Justin Schultz fell at an inopportune time, so Sean Kuraly put Columbus on the board first. Alex Ovechkin responded with a scoring goal, an evenly matched Ovi Shot from the Ovi Spot.
The second period started with back-to-back goals from crusher Garnet Hathaway, but the Blue Jackets rallied with two quick goals – the second plus one from Kuraly from Nyquist, to tie the game 3-3.
Late in the game, Dmitry Orlov sent a perfect pass to Conor Sheary, who just assassinated him.
Caps win.
- You may remember, but the Capitals also played on Thursday. The team was tired, on the road and against a rested Blue Jackets team. And it showed clearly. Columbus easily controlled the game with tenacious backchecking pressure.
- Alex Ovechkin passed Brett Hull to take solo control of fourth in the all-time lead. I love Hull’s statement to Ovi.
- Ian and I like to joke about start of season mark steps. Ovechkin is about to, uh, just totally devastate the historic standards for over-35 scores.
Alex Ovechkin pic.twitter.com/blopxor9LT
— good tweet pete taco emoji (@peterhassett) November 13, 2021
- I think Garnet Hathaway has been the secret ingredient to Washington’s great fourth line (usually fourth, at least), but he so rarely shows up in the offensive zone. Wonderful to see such a strong actor get a well-deserved moment in the spotlight.
- Alex Jonsson-Fjallby collected his first NHL point by assisting on Hathaway’s first goal. The AJF seems to me perfectly at ease in the NHL. He’s fast, and that’s valuable in a team of slow guys like Washington.
- Hathaway’s second goal had an unexpected playmaker: Alex Ovechkin forced a turnover along the boards before the rushing attack. Wild combo on ice there.
- Ilya Samsonov. He certainly didn’t look like he was having fun in this one. Recording a .833 over two periods isn’t great. Worse still for a goalkeeper who is trying to get his still young career out of a hole. Really disheartening.
TWICE AS KURLZ FOR KURLZ pic.twitter.com/Lz9zxUCWDd
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 13, 2021
- When shorthanded late in the game, Columbus Andrew Peek broke his stick then blocked a one-timer from Ovechkin. He will remember this change.
Turn up the gamma to enjoy @JoeBpXptonight’s boss #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/FYkpdV72B0
— good tweet pete taco emoji (@peterhassett) November 13, 2021
Hell yeah, I’m gonna take a nasty win in an unrested versus rested road game. Give Samsonov a W he doesn’t deserve. Sure. Why not. I do not care.
We have more hockey to come. Sunday night, the Capitals will host the Penguins. It could be a good one. It depends on who is on the Penguins roster. I no longer have any idea.
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