Peter Laviolette doesn’t hand out compliments easily, but his comments on Washington’s third-quarter effort in a hard fought win over the Columbus Blue Jackets came close.
“The third period tonight, I thought we had to compete hard,” Laviolette said in his post-game press conference. “I thought Columbus, their best period was in the third period. They worked extremely hard, never stopped working on pucks, and so we had to work the entire time, and defensively we were good through the game.”
After blowing leads against Florida and Chicago in successive games, which resulted in losses (one in regulation, one in a shootout), the Capitals were able to keep it together and close out the Blue Jackets 3-1 at Capital One Arena Saturday night.
Once again, Washington got strong performances from rookies. Alexi Protas gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead in the first period when he scored his second goal of the season off an assist from defenseman Justin Schultz. Protas is one of seven Caps rookies to achieve a goal this season.
Alex Ovechkin stretched the lead to 2-0 in the second period. Defenseman John Carlson found Ovechkin skating open, and Ovechkin beat Columbus goalie Daniil Tarasov to the glove side for his 20th goal of the season and 750th of his career.
“It’s a pretty cool number. Just keep going, you know, move on,” a low-key Ovechkin said of the goal. He now trails Jaromir Jager by 16.
Columbus was finally able to beat Caps goalie Ilya Samsonov in the third period as Eric Robinson made the score 2-1 with about 14 minutes left in the game, but the Caps were able to lock the Jackets down the rest of the way. Garnett Hathaway sealed the game with an empty-net goal with 1:27 left in regulation.
The game also marked the return of injured center T.J. Oshie. Although he didn’t record a point, Oshie was on the ice for more than 16 minutes.
“It felt fast out there. Felt a little rusty, but I haven’t been skating too much, so that’s to be expected,” Oshie said. “It feels really nice to be out there and not in the rafters.”
The Capitals improved to 15-4-6, 36 points. They remain a point ahead of the red-hot New York Rangers, who have now won six straight.
The Capitals face Anaheim Monday night at Capital One Arena.