Each remaining game is the most important of the season. The Blue Jackets must win out, and the Canadiens must lose out, for Columbus to make the postseason. Standing in the way on Saturday were the number one seed Capitals. Fortunately, the Caps were short-handed in this one, missing Ovechkin and starting a career AHL goalie.
In a rare mantinee game, broadcast nationally on ABC, the Blue Jackets utterly destroyed the Capitals.
1st Period
The Blue Jackets struck early when Monahan gathered the puck across the slot and made a short pass to Werenski. Z went far side on Shepherd for his 21st of the season, breaking his own franchise record for goals in a season by a defenseman. The shot was the first shot faced on the season for Shepherd.
CBJ Goal 1-0: Werenski (Monahan, Fabbro) 1:00
When Shepherd saw his second shot of the game, he let in his second goal. KJ dangled around a Capitals defenseman, and Fantilli, being on the far side, distracted Shepherd and allowed KJ to put it through the five-hole.
CBJ Goal 2-0: K. Johnson (van Riemsdyk) 4:45
Rare rule sighting! Mateychuk went to dump the puck in at the blue line, and Shepherd left the net to retrieve it. However, the puck went off the linesman’s skate and right into the net. That’s no goal by rule, which I’m not sure makes sense. Isn’t the linesman part of the field of play in every other situation? With that said, I’d want the goal not to count if the roles were reversed.
KJ nearly scored again on an innocent shot through traffic. Shepherd got just enough glove on it to send it wide.
Fantilli made a world-class play to make the score 3-0. On the defensive end, he absolutely laid out Leonard when battling for the puck. The puck immediately went the other way, leading to a Fantilli snipe off a KJ pass for his 26th goal of the season.
CBJ Goal 3-0: Fantilli (K. Johnson, van Riemsdyk) 19:24
After the goal, Tom Wilson was sent to the locker room and assessed 12 minutes of penalties for mouthing off to the officials.
2nd Period
The power play didn’t have much going for it, but the Jackets held onto possession after it expired. The result was a long point shot from Fantilli, which made it past Shepherd for his second of the day.
CBJ Goal 4-0: Fantilli (Mateychuk) 2:01
The train kept chugging along when Monahan made it 5-0. Off the rush, Marchenko passed the puck towards the net, leading to a rebound that Monahan was in the perfect position to handle.
CBJ Goal 5-0: Monahan (Marchenko) 4:37
It went from bad to worse for Washington when Voronkov won a puck battle behind the Caps’ net. He quickly passed it to Sillinger, who made it 6-0 not even halfway through the game.
CBJ Goal 6-0: Sillinger (Voronkov, Olivier) 5:14
There was nearly a line brawl when Kuraly finished a check on Leonard. After getting embarrassed earlier in the game, Leonard threw a cross-check back at Kuraly, and he wasn’t having it. They dropped the gloves, and Kuraly won the fight decisively.
The officials missed an easy call when Trevor van Riemsdyk jumped into the fight as the third man in.
Two minutes later, James van Riemsdyk and Sandin dropped the mitts after going hard into the corner. Immediately after the fight, with Wilson still on the ice, Evason responded by sending out both Olivier and Voronkov.
Gudbranson went to the box for interference, giving the Caps their first power play of the day. The Columbus PK was able to kill off the penalty.
Possession numbers were pretty even in the middle 20. Scoring chances, however, went Columbus’s way 12-3.
3rd Period
The start of the third period was a bit sleepy, even though you could see the two benches chirping at each other.
Sean McDonogh of ESPN/ABC randomly started ripping on Elvis Merzlikins. He called him “mediocre” and talked about how he’s been a bad teammate in the past and has rubbed people the wrong way. Agree or disagree with the sentiment, it’s not the place of a play-by-play guy to make those comments, especially when the player in question is likely at home watching the broadcast.
Both teams woke up when Dubois dropped Harris in the corner. Voronkov jumped Dubois, and Trevor van Riemsdyk dropped his gloves and started throwing punches at Sillinger. Voronkov, Dubois, and Trevor van Riemsdyk all received game misconducts, with TvR receiving an extra two for roughing.
There was a funny moment a few minutes later. Voronkov jumped onto the ice after he had been kicked out of the game. It was an honest mistake as a result of some miscommunication or language barrier. The Blue Jackets received a bench minor as a result. Evason wasn’t pleased, but Jenner, Fantilli, and others were seen on the bench laughing about it.
JvR, who has been playing very well, made it 7-0 off a pass from Olivier to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick. Why, again, was he a scratch for several vital games?
CBJ Goal 7-0: van Riemsdyk (Olivier) 17:41
Game over!
Final Thoughts
What a game for the Blue Jackets to be on national TV. They showed off their offensive skill, played an entertaining, physical game, and won decisively. Without Ovechkin in the lineup, the focus of this game ended up being on Columbus.
Jet wasn’t forced to make a ton of tough saves, but he stood tall when he had to. He’s certainly making a case that he should be the guy going forward.
Fantilli continues to show that he can be an elite player in the future. Evason had him working on his defensive game early in the season, but he blossomed offensively after Monahan went down. His performance in this game was stellar. We have a player in Columbus, ladies and gentlemen.
It was an all-around gutsy performance by the Jackets. They came out strong and kept the pedal to the metal all game long. They were even able to match Washington physically when the game got chippy. What a contrast to the last couple of seasons when they would get pushed around and blow third-period leads.
Reminder: These two teams are back at it tomorrow. After how this one went, tomorrow’s game is guaranteed to be entertaining.
Up Next
We are all Toronto fans tonight. The Maple Leafs take on the Canadiens at 7:00 PM ET. If the Maple Leafs win in any fashion, the Blue Jackets’ playoff hopes remain alive.
The Blue Jackets will fly to Washington tomorrow to face the Capitals again. The puck drops at 6:00 PM ET.