You'd rather not face the Pittsburgh Penguins?
That's fine, but instead, you get the Metropolitan Division champions.
The Washington Capitals put together another 100-point season and again enter the Stanley Cup playoffs as one of the top seeds – but right behind them were a handful of good teams, including their first-round opponent, the Columbus Blue Jackets. The two teams met four times this season (the Jackets were 1–3–0) and played a series of competitive, unpredictable games in 2017-18.
Let's run through them, and see what we can glean from the results.
DEC. 2, 2017 (CAPITALS WIN, 4–3)
The Blue Jackets came into this game having won eight of their last nine overall, and had run it up to 17–8–1 on the year. But they did not start on time, and the Capitals scored two goals in the first 2:06 to put the Blue Jackets firmly on their heels. It wasn't the big guns getting it done, either; Brett Connolly scored the first and Alex Chiasson the second, making for a hairy start in D.C.
Columbus hung around, though, and tied the game late in the second period. Artemi Panarin got them on the board early in the second, and a shorthanded goal from Matt Calvert drew the Jackets level at 2–2 with 3:32 left.
Not so fast, though – the Blue Jackets took a late-period penalty and Alex Ovechkin finally struck, giving Washington a 3–2 lead with 37.6 to go in the second period. It was a dagger for the Blue Jackets, who fell behind 4–2 1:08 into the third period. While the game was back-and-forth with no real momentum, the Blue Jackets blinked first and gave the Capitals a chance to capitalize.
FEBRUARY 6, 2018 (CAPITALS WIN, 3–2)
The Blue Jackets were struggling. Nothing was going their way. They couldn't score, they had plenty of injuries. They'd lost three straight and four of five leading into this game, the first of two in a row against the Capitals. Columbus got off to a good start in the game, taking an early 1–0 lead on a David Savard goal, but the Capitals equalized on a power play goal a few minutes later.
After a number of chances by the Blue Jackets went begging, the Capitals took a 2–1 lead five minutes into the second period. Brandon Dubinsky tied the game with six minutes left in the regulation and the Blue Jackets looked as though they would finally break out of this funk...but it wasn't to be.
Nicklas Backstrom broke their hearts with the go-ahead goal, scored at 19:17 of the third period after busted coverage in front of the Columbus net. Another regulation loss, and things appeared to be slipping away.
FEBRUARY 9, 2018 (CAPITALS WIN, 4–2)
This loss dropped the Blue Jackets out of playoff position.
An early goal for John Carlson, a response from Pierre-Luc Dubois, and a late-period tally sent Columbus into the break down only a goal. But it felt like a mountain given their offensive struggles, and another late-period goal was an ominous sign.
The Capitals scored twice in the second period to extend their lead and they never looked back, dispatching the Blue Jackets for a third time in three tries.
FEBRUARY 26, 2018 (BLUE JACKETS WIN, 5–1)
After GM Jarmo Kekalainen added three important pieces – Ian Cole, Mark Letestu and Thomas Vanek – at the trade deadline, the Blue Jackets took on a different look. They were deeper and seemingly rejuvenated, which reflected in this thrashing of the Capitals, one of their most complete performances of the season.
From start to finish, the Blue Jackets were the better team. They were quicker, more opportunistic, and created offense like they hadn't in the three previous meetings with Washington. They had a 4–1 lead after 20 minutes and Sergei Bobrovsky played one of his better games, covering up for breakdowns and making key saves in the second period that kept the Jackets' momentum rolling.
TAKEAWAYS
The Blue Jackets and Capitals didn't blow the doors off one another in their season series. A few breakdowns and mistakes on either side and the results might have been far different. By and large, these were one-goal or close-situation games throughout, but the Blue Jackets were usually the team to cave first.
Here's what we know: all of these games came before the Blue Jackets really hit their stride. They weren't playing too great early in the season but still got out to a solid start, but in March and April, they played their best hockey and beat some of the NHL's top teams down the stretch. That's the Blue Jackets team we hope to see show up in the first round, not the team that had no identity in December, January and February.
We'll see if anything of this holds any water once the series begins Thursday in D.C., but at least on the surface, it appears that these two teams are closer than we thought.
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