Final Score: Blue Jackets 4 – Capitals 3
Game Summary
Couldn’t have said it any better myself. The Jackets didn’t start out as the better team but they sure ended like it. When everything was said and done the Jackets ended the game with a 52.58% Corsi at 5 on 5. The penalty kill stepped up when it needed to and the star players were the star players.
We knew special teams was going to be a big storyline and it certainly was right out of the gate. The key for the Jackets was to stay out of the box and they had difficulty doing so, thanks to some questionable officiating. I’m not to normally complain about this type of stuff but the calls were bad, and bad for both teams. The Nick Foligno goalie interference call was soft, the Ian Cole hook was a little soft, the T.J. Oshie hook felt like a makeup call. The Josh Anderson hit was a penalty but as I said on Twitter that was a two-minute penalty at most. The worst however was after establishing that president in the first period, the refs didn’t give Tom Wilson a major for his charge on Alexander Wennberg. Wennberg was down and Wilson came in hot and targeted the head.
The misconduct hurt a lot and Washington made the Jackets pay, scoring twice. Evgeny Kuznetsov was awarded both goals, his second one was a snipe, Sergei Bobrovksy had no chance on it, and after one the Jackets found themselves down 2-0.
After those two goals, the Jackets stepped up. They had their legs under them and knew what they needed to do. The killed off the rest of the major penalty and went to work on the comeback. The second line got things started with a great play made by Boone Jenner.
That was the first playoff goal for Wennberg, he was playing well in this game which was great to see after a disappointing postseason last year. It was really really unfortunate to see him get hit and go down with an injury from that Wilson hit. Wennberg is doubtful for game two.
The Jackets much like the Capitals, made the most of their power play. Thomas Vanek doing work in front of the net, knocks home his first goal and second point of the game.
Vanek has Brooks Orpik all over him and is completely unaffected. He parks himself right outside the crease. Pierre-Luc Dubois gets him the puck and the game is tied.
The Capitals took the lead shortly after on a defensive breakdown by the Jackets. David Savard and Ian Cole both made a couple good pinches, but were unable to get back in time and the Capitals had a two-on-one.
When the going gets tough you turn to your stars and the Jackets did just that. Seth Jones drew a tripping penalty late in the third, and then capitalized on the ensuing power play scoring the first goal of his playoff career.
This was another just snipe. Jones picked up right where he left off in the regular season, scoring big goals at big times. That dramatic goal sent the game into overtime where Artemi Panarin did this:
Panarin was everything for the Jackets. That goal was insane, I have no idea how he got so much on that shot. He simply outskates Dmitry Orlov here and is somehow able to get the puck over Philipp Grubauer. Panarin had three points, the most in a playoff game in franchise history. He played 23:29, had three shots and a 63.41% Corsi at 5 on 5. The Jackets wanted a game-breaker. They got themselves a game breaker.
Stat of the Night
Stats courtesy of
Natural Stat Trick and
Hockey-Reference.
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