Round 1 - Game 6
Washington Capitals lead series 3-2
Mon. April 23 Washington Capitals @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Place: Nationwide Arena
Time: 7:30 p.m.
TV: NBCSWA, CNBC, SN, TVAS2, FS-O
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
NHL.COM for Live Box Score
Columbus Blue Jackets 97-44-28-9 Last Game: Apr 21 Lost 4-3 Against Capitals
Washington Capitals 105-49-26-7 Last Game: Apr 21 Won 4-3 Against Blue Jackets
8-Ovechkin 92-Kuznetsov 43-Wilson
18-Stephenson 19-Bäckström 77-Oshie
10-Connolly 20-Eller 25-Smith-Pelly
13-Vrana 83-Beagle 39-Chiasson
9-Orlov 2-Niskanen
6-Kempny 74-Carlson
44-Orpik 29-Djoos
70-Holtby (starter)
31-Grubauer
-- SCRATCH --
65-Burakovsky ("upper-body" injury, out for rest of series, needs surgery)
63-Gersich
72-Boyd
64-Pinho
28-Jerabek
22-Bowey
1-Copley
-- INJURED RESERVE --
-- 1st Powerplay Unit --
20-Eller 19-Bäckström 92-Kuznetsov
8-Ovechkin 74-Carlson
-- 2nd Powerplay Unit --
13-Vrana 18-Stephenson 10-Connolly
2-Niskanen 9-Orlov
Referees: Dan O’Rourke (#9), Jean Hebert (#15)
Linesmen: David Brisebois (#96), Pierre Racicot (#65)
Columbus’s expected lineup (names in italics = changes since last game)
Forwards Artemi Panarin - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Cam Atkinson
Boone Jenner - Alexander Wennberg - Thomas Vanek
Matt Calvert - Nick Foligno - Josh Anderson
Mark Letestu -
Brandon Dubinsky -
Oliver Bjorkstrand Defensemen Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Ian Cole - David Savard
Ryan Murray - Markus Nutivaara
Goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky (starter)
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratches: Markus Hannikainen
Sonny Milano
Alex Broadhurst
Taylor Chorney
Jack Johnson
Scott Harrington
Dean Kukan
Lukas Sedlak (upper body)
1st Period12:12 GOAL 9-Orlov, assists 2-Niskanen & 18-Stephenson 1-0 WSH
2nd Period08:40 Jackets GOAL Foligno, assists Murray & Cole 1-1 TIE
12:50 GOAL 8-Ovechkin, assists 44-Orpik & 29-Djoos 2-1 WSH (50th Career Playoff Goal)
18:23 PP GOAL 8-Ovechkin, assists 74-Carlson & 92-Kuznetsov 3-1 WSH
3rd Period02:25 Jackets GOAL Dubois, assis Calvert 3-2 WSH
03:56 GOAL 25-Smith-Pelly, unassisted 4-2 WSH
05:30 SH GOAL 18-Stephenson, assists 83-Beagle & 44-Orpik 5-2 WSH
08:22 Jackets GOAL Foligno, assists Jenner & Bjorkstrand 5-3 WSH
19:46 GOAL 20-Eller, assist 83-Beagle 6-3 WSH
FINAL: 6-3 WSH
by Isabelle Khurshudyan, Roman Stubbs and Mike Hume April 23 at 1:28 PM
Capitals-Blue Jackets Game 6: Can Washington take care of business and close it out?
Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals face Seth Jones and the Blue Jackets with a chance to advance to the second round. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
Game 6
Washington Capitals vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
Series: Washington leads, 3-2
Monday, 7:30 p.m. ET, Nationwide Arena
TV: NBCSWA, CNBC, SN, TVAS2, FS-O
- The Capitals are 2-5 in their past seven chances to advance in the playoffs. (Read more)
- Chandler Stephenson has impressed in his promotion to the top-six forward corps. (Read more)
- Blue Jackets Coach John Tortorella has evolved, but he hasn’t lost his fire. (Read more)
Top story linesClosing it out: Columbus Coach John Tortorella confidently said the Blue Jackets would return to Capital One Arena for Game 7. Washington is 2-5 in its past seven chances to advance, but perhaps the Capitals can draw on their Game 6 win in Toronto last year. Washington beat the Maple Leafs in overtime to close out the series. The winner of this Eastern Conference quarterfinal will play the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round.
“I think the playoffs are an absolute grind as it is,” Coach Barry Trotz said Sunday. “If you have a chance to eliminate a team, you have to have that killer instinct. You have to have that ability to close out a team. And it’s the toughest game to win because the other team is desperate. Their backs are against the wall. They’re there. They’re going to give their absolute max effort tomorrow, and we’ve got to make sure that we have a max effort. If we do that, then we have a chance to win in Columbus. We’ve won there a couple times already. You want to get on the next series as quick as you can because the next series comes up very quickly on you. You need to recover, and you need a mental break as well.”
Penalty kill: Washington’s power play has been spectacular all series with eight goals through five games, but it’s the team’s shorthanded unit that has steadily improved to make a difference in the series. The Capitals have killed 13 straight penalties, including five in Game 5 as both teams were called for nine minors through 40 minutes. Through the first two games of the series, Washington had allowed Columbus four power-play goals in eight opportunities.
“The penalty kill has been a major factor for us in the last few games,” Trotz said. “They keep making adjustments, just as [Saturday], I though Columbus made a lot of adjustments on their penalty kill. They were a lot more aggressive than they were in Columbus, and they end up with a shorthanded goal. This is the time when we’re still trying to tweak things. They changed some things on their power play a little bit [in Game 5], so we’ll look to maybe tweak a little bit with our PK.”
Containing Panarin: Columbus forward Artemi Panarin had seven points through the first three games of the series, but Washington has impressively neutralized him since. A neutral-zone trap in Game 4 gave the Blue Jackets some fits, and Panarin had just one shot on goal through more than 20 minutes. The Capitals again kept him to the perimeter in Game 5, and while Columbus’s top line seemed to be the most dangerous trio to start the series, Washington’s top defense pairing of Dmitry Orlov and Matt Niskanen have held center Pierre-Luc Dubois, Cam Atkinson and Panarin scoreless over the past two games.
“We went into the series knowing fully well how good of a player Panarin is,” Trotz said. “He’s a leader for them. It’s no different than what they would do with [Evgeny] Kuznetsov, [Nicklas] Backstrom or [Alex Ovechkin]. It’s got to be a team game. There’s no one shadowing anybody. You know you want to take time and space from top players in this league, and if you do and you take away as many options as possible, you have a chance to limit their damage that they can do to you.”
Players to watchChandler Stephenson: With forward Andre Burakovsky out for at least this series because of an undisclosed upper-body injury that needs surgery, rookie winger Chandler Stephenson has taken his place on the second line with Backstrom and right wing T.J. Oshie. Trotz thought Stephenson would be a good fit there because his speed is comparable to Burakovsky’s, but his two-way game is also trustworthy on a trio that’s often used against the opponent’s top line. In Game 5, Stephenson assisted on Backstrom’s first goal and also on his game-winning goal in overtime.
Alexander Wennberg: The second-line center missed three games in the series for an upper-body injury that he suffered on a hit by Tom Wilson in the first game. In his return Saturday, Wennberg immediately made an impact, helping to set up Oliver Bjorkstrand’s game-tying goal in the third period. Wennberg anchors a line with Boone Jenner and Thomas Vanek, and the trio had been quiet without him. With Backstrom’s line heating up, the two centers will again go head-to-head Monday.
Pregame readingImmerse yourself in the Capitals’ postseason with The Post’s coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs:
John Tortorella is evolving as a playoff coach. But he hasn’t lost his fire.It’s not just you: The Caps really do play an absurd number of overtime playoff gamesNicklas Backstrom, the picture of the Capitals’ playoff pain, is now the image of their joyJohn Carlson continues to build on stellar postseason reputationAndre Burakovsky needs surgery, out for rest of the first roundWith minutes piling up for Capitals and Blue Jackets, fatigue could become a factorSeth Jones is following his father’s path — on ice, not the basketball courtThe D.C. sports trifecta didn’t happen, but Caps’ double-OT win was a jackpot moment‘Weird things happen’: Lars Eller’s game-winner sums up Capitals playoff hockeyCapitals’ Tom Wilson knows he has to be smarter and stay out of the penalty boxCapitals-Blue Jackets Game 3: In a playoff plot twist, Washington’s familiar script ends with a winHistory not on Caps’ side, but they’ve erased 2-0 hole against John Tortorella beforeAs Capitals run into another ‘hot goalie,’ they face their own net dilemmaCapitals’ Kuznetsov, Blue Jackets’ Panarin shared a rink in Russia and the NHL playoff spotlightby Scott Allen April 23 at 12:05 PM
It’s not just you: The Caps really do play an absurd number of overtime playoff games
That feeling when the Capitals’ playoff game goes to overtime. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)
Game 6
Washington Capitals vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
Series: Washington leads, 3-2
Monday, 7:30 p.m. ET, Nationwide Arena
TV: NBCSWA, CNBC, SN, TVAS2, FS-O
There’s a White Castle less than three miles from Columbus’s Nationwide Arena, and it’s open 24 hours, so no matter how many overtimes it takes to decide Monday’s Game 6 between the Capitals and Blue Jackets, fans will be able to eat their feelings afterward — in the form of gray meat pucks. Listen, White Castle’s sliders aren’t nearly as bad for you as playoff hockey.
Four of the first five games in this first-round series have required overtime, the lone exception being Washington’s strangely comfortable 4-1 win in Game 3 on Thursday at Capital One Arena. As NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti noted Sunday, the Capitals are the first team in NHL history to play nine overtime games in the first round of consecutive postseasons. Exciting is one word to describe that feat. Absurd is another.
As Gulitti also noted Sunday, the other 14 playoff teams this season have played a combined 35 games, only one of which hasn’t ended in regulation. Must be nice.
Columbus and Washington don’t do chill in the postseason. The Blue Jackets are short on playoff history — John Tortortella’s team is still looking for its first series win — but seven of their 20 postseason games have gone to overtime. No franchise in NHL history has played a greater percentage of overtime playoff games. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that more than a quarter (66) of the Capitals’ 256 playoff games have required extra time, the third-highest percentage (25.8%) in league history.
Carolina, which played seven overtime games en route to the 2006 Stanley Cup title, ranks second at 26.8 percent, but the Hurricanes have missed the postseason nine straight years, giving their fans’ hearts time to recover. Winnipeg, which clinched its first playoff series win in franchise history on Saturday, has played one playoff overtime game in 13 contests. St. Louis has played the same number of playoff overtime games as Washington … in 109 more playoff games.
More than half of Washington’s playoff overtime games have come in the last decade; more than half of Columbus’s playoff overtime games have come in the last two weeks. Since Alex Ovechkin’s rookie season in 2005-06, 35 of Washington’s 102 postseason games (34 percent) have gone to overtime. Only Toronto, Florida, Colorado and Columbus have played a greater percentage of playoff overtime games during that span. Five of Toronto’s seven playoff overtime games since 2005-06 came in last year’s first round series against the Capitals.
Washington is 30-36 all-time in playoff overtime games, while Columbus is 4-3. At this point, it’s hard to remember a time when overtime wasn’t synonymous with Capitals playoff hockey. In fact, the last time the Capitals played a series in which no game went to overtime was 2009 against the Rangers. That first-round matchup also marked the last time Washington won a series after trailing two-games-to-none. The series went seven games and three of them, including Washington’s 2-1 win in Game 7, were decided by one goal. Washington would lose two out of three overtime games and the series to the Penguins in the second round.
So, Carolina and Washington in the first round next year?
