Capitals even series with 4-1 win over Columbus

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Washington Capitals were methodical in their approach to Game 4 in their series with the Blue Jackets.

On Thursday night, the Caps struck for a goal in each of the first two periods and then added a goal early in the third period to build a 3-0 lead before the Jackets found any offense success.

The Caps won Game 4, 4-1, and now head home with the series knotted at 2-2.

Alex Ovechkin, TJ Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson struck for the Caps’ goals.

If the Caps can hold serve on home ice in Game 5 they will return to Columbus with a 3-2 advantage.

“Obviously, the next game is a real pivotal game,” Caps head coach Barry Trotz said. “Someone’s going to take the lead in this series, and then your back’s against the wall. So we’ve got to make sure we’re ready to go. But I think we have been since we got here, and we’ve just got to do it at home.”

Braden Holtby made 23 saves for the win.

“We’ve been a confident group all year,” Holtby said. “… I don’t think we ever doubted ourselves that way. We came into this building with the right mindset to have success against this team here.”

The Caps a 3-0 lead until Boone Jenner deflected a shot into the net to break the shutout bid.

“For some reason, you could see it from the first shift right into our early power play,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “We looked nervous right on through. I don’t know why. It was just a struggle. That’s called a good old-fashioned laying an egg right on throughout the lineup. It was unexpected. It happened.”

[WATCH: All Capitals vs. Blue Jackets highlights | Complete Capitals vs. Blue Jackets series coverage]

Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves in taking the loss.

“It’s a series for a reason. We’re not going to get down from one game. We have to learn from this game. We have to know we have to be way better. Maybe it gives us a little kick in the rear to know that we have a real good opportunity in front of us to go back there. Home ice hasn’t been too nice to each team. We’ll try to get one back,” the Blue Jackets’ Nick Foligno said after the loss.