In Columbus, the Washington Capitals scored four times in the middle frame on Thursday night and added two more in the third period to thrash the Blue Jackets, 6-2.
“This is us. We’re playing the way we can now,” forward Garnet Hathaway (goal) said. “You look at our road record (10-8-3), we’ve been good on the road. We’ve been ready on the road, and now we’re starting to hit that potential.”
Darcy Kuemper made 25 saves in the Caps win.
“If you’re playing the right way, the tide eventually turns, and that’s what’s happened as the game goes along,” Kuemper said.
Johnny Gaudreau and Gavin Bayreuther were the Columbus goal scorers, they scored when the two teams were tied, 2-2, in the second period.when the
Washington improved to 22-13-6.
Martin Fehervary put the Caps ahead,. 3-2, at 17:20 of the middle frame.
“The second period, I think the floodgates started to open a little bit and they’ve been going in, so I think we need to keep getting guys to the net and keep shooting the puck,” the Caps’ Dylan Strome said. “Hockey’s pretty fun when you score four, five, six, seven, nine in a game.”
Columbus dropped to 11-24-2.
“They’ve got some big bodies,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “The second period gets tough because you can’t change. We got locked in there a few times. Guys are dying on the vine.”
T.J. Oshie hit for a double in the win, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel had a single marker.
“I thought from about the 10-minute mark in the first period on, we did a really good job of pushing things,” Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. “I can’t explain the second period. Guys are pushing; [we] seemed to turn it on a little bit as that game went on, seemed to keep pushing the whole way.”
Alex Ovechkin scored in the third for the 6-2 final.
Elvis Merzlikins made 31 saves in the Blue Jackets loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.