The Blue Jackets just do the darndest things, don't they?
They pump the Washington Capitals in D.C. a week ago. They get shutout by the star-less Pittsburgh Penguins a few days later. Then give up a hat trick to Anthony Duclair in overtime to loss to the lowly Ottawa Senators.
All of this to come back and pump the league-best Capitals again.
*Burns everything we know about hockey*
Here are tonight's Three Things:
Having The Caps' Number
It's not a secret anymore - and it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but the Blue Jackets just have the Capitals' number. They've now won six of the last seven meetings between the two clubs, by a total score of 20-9.
And when one of the league's best scorers comes to your barn, you keep an eye on him. The Blue Jackets did that and more, as Alexander Ovechkin ended his evening with nine, yes, nine, shots on net and a -2 rating.
Ovechkin has 21 goals through 34 games this season. He also has eight power play goals on the current campaign already (had 18 last year) but failed to convert on four chances tonight.
After losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins last week with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Mulkin out of the lineup, it was nice to see the Blue Jackets handle a team that actually had its superstars in the lineup.
Stone Cold Joonas Korpisalo
Joonas Korpisalo is catching fire, and at a needed time. His counterpart Elvis Merzlikins, who many thought could be splitting time with Korpisalo, is still without a win, and struggling big time.
Korpisalo to the rescue, then! Tonight, he turned aside shots from the Capitals, including ten from Alexander Ovechkin alone. He also fought off four power plays from Washington, who owned the fifth-best power play percentage in the league heading into Monday night's game.
In his last four games, Joonas Korpisalo has only allowed five goals total and is rocking a .958 SV%. Yeesh.
The Maestro Delivers
Oliver Bjorkstrand came into tonight's game with just one goal on his last 41 shots. He seemed just a bit determined to change that.
The Capitals were surging throughout the second period and looked to even the score at the start of the third frame, but Bjorkstrand just wouldn't have that. He notched his eighth and ninth goals of the season to demoralize Washington and help his club inch back towards the .500 mark before year's end.
