Washington Capitals @ Columbus Blue Jackets: Season 25 Game 7

 For half this game, you could have cut the tension with a hockey skate. But, eventually, someone had to break the 0-0 tie, and it wouldn't be the Blue Jackets. At 18:19 in Period 2, Capitals' John Carlson would slip one past Jet Greaves, who'd been a brick wall to this point. This would make two goals for John Carlson's season. Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre would both add their second assist this season on John Carlson's goal. The rest of this period would play out, and the Blue Jackets would face the third period of regulation only down by a goal. 

Unfortunately, the Capitals have the player with the most goals since Wayne Gretzky! Alex Ovechkin would come out red hot as his jersey, scoring goal 899 of his career, the second of his season, at 1:36. There was just one assist on this goal, belonging to Dylan Strome, and this would mark his eighth goal of the young season. The Capitals would quickly go from 2-0 to 3-0 with Justin Sourdif's first goal this season at 2:40. Ryan Leonard and Logan Thompson. would each gain their first assists this season on Justin Sourif's goal. At 10:30, Denton Mateychuk would prevent the Capitals from getting a shutout with goal two of his season! Sean Monahan would gain his second assist on this goal, while Dimitri Voronkov would add his fourth. It would look as if Dimitri Voronkov would add a second goal for the Blue Jackets, but it would be removed from the scoreboard after a short review found he made a motion of kicking when shooting the puck. To make matters worse, at 12:35, Mathieu Oliver would go to the box for a five-minute major after he was determined to elbow Declan Chisholm. On this power play, the Capitals would cash in after a rebound from Jet Greaves found its way to Capitals' Tom Wilson. This would mark his fifth goal of the season. Ethen Frank would get his first assist this season on the primary, while John Carlson would add his fifth on the secondary. The fifth goal for the Capitals, by Connor McMichael, would be reviewed for high-sticking, but it would stand. This would become his first goal of the season. Alex Ovechkin and A liaksei Protas would each pick up assist number five of their season on this goal. The hemorrhaging would stop here, the final being 5-1 Capitals.

I hate it, too, believe me, but most of the calls tonight were right. Most. Mathieu Oliver didn't deserve the bad call he got. That said, Alex Ovechkin is dangerous for scoring, Tom Wilson is dangerous for fighting, and Logan Thompson is dangerous in net because a goalie with their glove on his right hand isn't common. This is a tricky team, and those are just three players who make up a juggernaut in the NHL. You cannot give them a chance; if you do, they'll make you regret it. We were solid till the Capitals figured out how to get pucks past Jet Greaves. The Blue Jackets were firing on Logan Thompson, but none made it to the back of the visitor's net. Proof? Logan Thompson would be named Star One of this game. He stopped 24 of the 25 Blue Jackets shots that came his way, giving him an impressive .971 save percentage. Alex Ovechkin, who finished 1-1-2, captured the Second Star, while John Carlson, who also had a 1-1-2 night, took home the Third Star of the Game. 

Jet Greaves would end this game with an .833 save percentage. The two power-play goals at the end didn't help his final numbers, as he stopped 25 of the 30 total Capitals shots on his home net. 

It's a rough outcome no one wanted, but the Blue Jackets have to shake this loss off. As Dean Evanson said, 'this game was frustrating as hell,' and I feel that. That said, it can't affect them tomorrow night as they face Pittsburgh on the road. The Penguins are a huge rival for us, and we need those 2 points up for grabs. That game will start at 7:00 p.m. 

Go CBJ!