Blue Jackets Try to Avoid Season Sweep Against Washington Capitals
The Capitals are in Columbus for the final time this season.
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The Blue Jackets are set to face off against their division rival Washington Capitals for the third and final time this season. The Blue Jackets (11-17-5) enter the night trailing Washington (16-9-4) in the standings by nine points despite the Capitals having four games in hand. Both previous games have been close affairs, as the Capitals won each by a single goal.
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Keys to Success
Play a Full Sixty
This has been the Blue Jackets’ biggest issue all season. They start off strong, fall off a bit in the second then completely disappear in the third period. Even when they are able to walk away with a win this is the case. They nearly blew their win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in that fashion but got bailed out by Kent Johnson scoring the game-winning goal. They gave up a couple of goals against the Buffalo Sabres in the third period as well during the 9-4 win, but it was a good sign that the Jackets were able to swing the momentum back in their favor and score two of their own.
The Capitals are a strong team, and although Alex Ovechkin isn’t scoring goals like we’d usually expect him to, they have some strong depth scoring. Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson have found the back of the net 13 and 10 times respectively this season. Meanwhile, Anthony Mantha and Connor McMichael are third and fourth on the team in goals, and there are quite a few not far behind them. If you give them a chance, the Capitals will take advantage of it. If the Blue Jackets can’t play a full sixty minutes tonight, they’ll undoubtedly walk away with a loss.
Russian Line Keeps Rolling
The Blue Jackets’ second line has been phenomenal as of late. Kirill Marchenko scored a hat trick in his last outing against the Buffalo Sabres. His 13 goals has tied him for the team lead with captain Boone Jenner. The rookie Dmitri Voronkov has had a very good rookie year, despite some concerns early on that he may want to head back to Russia, those concerns have been settled now and he seems here to stay. He’s recorded 16 points in 27 games, which is phenomenal for a rookie. Yegor Chinakhov started the season with the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League, but has been on fire since being recalled and placed with his fellow countrymen. It’s no secret this is the Blue Jackets’ best-performing line, and they will need to be performing at a high level to get the Jackets a win tonight.
Lineups
Washington Lines from the previous game via Sammi Silber
Ovechkin-Strome-Wilson
Protas-Lapierre-Mantha
Phillips-Kuznetsov-Miroshnichenko
Malenstyn-Dowd- Aube-Kubel
Fehervary-Carlson
Sandin-TVR
Edmundson-Jensen
Lindgren
Kuemper
Columbus Lines via Blue Jackets Twitter
Gaudreau-Fantilli-Danforth
Chinakhov-Voronkov-Marchenko
Johnson-Sillinger-Bemstrom
Gaunce-Kuraly-Texier
Werenski-Jiricek
Provorov-Peeke
Bean-Gudbranson
Merzlikins
Martin
Opponent Notes:
Former Blue Jacket Sonny Milano is going to be playing against his former team.
Charlie Lindgren is playing the best hockey of his career, and the Blue Jackets will struggle to score if he continues his recent form.
The Blue Jackets are coming off of one of their most impressive games this season, although they weren’t perfect defensively, they need to carry that level of play into tonight’s game. It’s never ideal to lose a season series, however being swept by a division rival is the worst possible outcome.