Tonight the Blue Jackets welcomed two new players, Mark Letestu and Ian Cole, and welcomed back Sonny Milano. How did this new look lineup perform?
Very, very well.
The Jackets struck first with a power play one-timer from Artemi Panarin:
Almost immediately thereafter the Capitals got their own power play and capitalized (sorry) with a quick Alex Ovechkin goal.
But the Jackets responded with a great hustle play by Milano, followed by a beautiful backhanded goal from the Cookie Monster:
The Jackets weren’t done! Their next goal came from the stick of the red-hot Mark “Test Tube” Letestu:
Still, the Blue Jackets WERE. NOT. DONE. Another power play led to another power play goal. This time a booming long distance shot from Seth Jones:
That was the second time Alexander Wennberg screened a goal by jumping in front of Braden Holtby. He also had the perfect pass to assist Milano’s goal. Great night for our favorite Swede
(What, did you think I’d use this gif for BJORKSTRAND? Come on…)
The first period ended with a massive scrum. Tom Wilson got a two minute minor for roughing, but Matt Calvert got a five minute major and a game misconduct for retaliating against Ovechkin’s shoves with a shove to the face with the end of his stick. At the start of the second, Ovie had words for John Tortorella, who responded in kind:
Can anyone read lips?
The Jackets killed the three minutes of major penalty, thus removing any chance Washington had of regaining momentum.
Cam Atkinson capped off scoring with an empty net goal.