Washington Capitals and Columbus Blue Jackets pack their season series on Sunday in the country’s capital one day after Blue Jackets dropped the capitals 7-0 at home.
Blue Jackets (37-33-9, 83 points), which have won three straight, have still not been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs since the Montreal Canadia lost 2-1 on overtime on the road to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday evening.
Columbus made three times in both the first and second periods to cross a victory over a capitals (50-20-9, 109 points) that gave Alex Ovechkin on the day off and had some important player defenders Jakob Chychrun (illness), center Aliaksei protas (foot) and Goalie Logan Thomson (Uppson Thomson (Uppson Thomson (Uppson Thomson
“The intensity was really early, obviously, and it’s not a bad thing,” said Columbus coach Dean Evason after the victory.
Ovechkin, who set the NHL career’s goal score a week ago, is expected to play Sunday evening. He went on Saturday with Thompson, who last played on April 2 after suffering a Midgame in upper body injury that day against Carolina Hurricanes. Washington coach Spencer Carbery could not commit himself to Chychrun or others who return.
The Second Year Center Adam Fantilli had its fifth multi-goal game on the season on Saturday. His first goal came at the last minute of the first period, after putting a shaft in Ryan Leonard at the opposite end of the track that sent Capital’s beginner to the ice.
The hit occurred when both players went to the puck in the track.
“It’s not like I was chasing him all the way down,” Fantilli said. “I probably saw him half a second before I came across him and whatever. Then to be able to go down and score, it was fantastic. I thought it gave us momentum on the second period, and we continued to roll it.”
Fantilli, who is ranked second on the team with 27 goals, has made five this month.
Washington’s playoff status has been safe for a while. They own the top seed in the eastern conference and are five points behind Winnipeg Jets for the presidents’ trophy, which goes to the team with the best regular season record.
The capitals are 3-3 in their last six, with each of the losses with three goals or more. Saturday’s suspension was only the third this season for a team that went into the weekend with a league best 3.59 goals per match.
Ovechkin (42 goals, 28 assists, 70 points), protas (30-36-66) and Chychrun (20-27-47) are among Washington’s top eight offensive players.
Carbery told reporters that he did some “homework” and found that Colorado Avalanche lost six of his last seven matches during the 2021-22 season before continuing with the Stanley Cup. Of course, that team also had players like Nathan Mackinnon and Cale Makar.
“We are more of a team game, and when our team game slides you see what happens tonight and a few other nights along the route here,” he added.
“So it’s a nice line, and I’ve talked a lot about it. We have to find out a way to play properly, match the urgency (Sunday) afternoon and get our game on the right track.”
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