The Washington Capitals look to extend their franchise-record road winning streak to 10 games when they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
The Blue Jackets have lost four of five games, including a 5-3 defeat to the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.
Kent Johnson had a goal and an assist, Zach Werenski and Sean Monahan scored, and Elvis Merzlikins allowed five goals and made 20 saves for the Blue Jackets, who trailed by scores of 3-0 and 5-1.
“We just fed into their forecheck,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “When you don’t feel comfortable going forward, you turn back, and all you do is invite pressure. Tonight, we played south and played soft instead of going north and playing hard.”
Monahan’s goal gave him 13 points in the last 13 games (three goals, 10 assists).
It was the 14th game in a row that the Blue Jackets have allowed a power-play goal, and they’ll be facing a Capitals team whose power play is much-improved of late.
“We’ve got to throw (Tuesday’s game) out,” Evason said. “Obviously, we haven’t skated for a bit, so we’ll get a good burn (Wednesday) and get our legs going again.”
The Capitals roll into Columbus with an 11-2-0 road record and a place atop the Metropolitan Division. Despite playing without injured superstar Alex Ovechkin for the past nine games, the Capitals own a plus-35 goal differential for the season.
And Washington is getting good news on the injury front. Ovechkin continues skating on his own and took some passes from former linemate Nicklas Backstrom (long-term injured reserve) on Wednesday morning.
Team owner Ted Leonsis told NHL.com that Ovechkin “probably still got two or three weeks (before returning). I don’t want him to rush it.”
Forward Tom Wilson, who took a shot in the face from teammate Jakob Chychrun in Montreal on Saturday and returned to score two goals, told reporters he has a small fracture of a bone in the sinus cavity area. His doctor wants him to wear a full shield for four weeks, but he expects to be able to play Thursday.
“I look a lot better now, if you can believe it, than I did a few days ago. When I got home after the flight? Oh man, it wasn’t good,” Wilson said of the left side of his face. “You go in to get a coffee somewhere and everyone’s like … they were kinda looking at you funny.”
Washington has been off since the come-from-behind 4-2 win at Montreal. Wilson scored two straight goals in the third period, Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist, and Logan Thompson made 22 saves for Washington, which is 6-0-1 in its past seven games.
“It’s a really fun group,” Wilson said after the game. “We enjoy coming together and bearing down and finding ways to gut out these tough wins. So, it’s a great group in here. I’ve been saying that all year and we’re just having fun playing for the guy next to us.”
Washington’s third-period comeback win was its third this season.
In the previous meeting between the teams, Connor McMichael scored twice, Ovechkin had a goal and two assists, and the Capitals routed the Blue Jackets 7-2 on Nov. 2 in Washington.
–Field Level Media