What a weird, bizarre, fun, entertaining series this has been.
And it's only three games old.
The Blue Jackets have made a (bad) habit of falling behind early, rallying to draw even and finding a way to get to overtime. They've won two of three games so far in sudden death, both coming at Capital One Arena in D.C., before falling in double overtime Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena.
It's great for entertainment value, but not so much for the blood pressure.
Artemi Panarin provided a lightning strike in Game 1, a game in which the Blue Jackets continuously put the Capitals on the power play and put themselves in an early hole. Matt Calvert was the Game 2 hero after the Blue Jackets again had to fight upstream to get back in the game, which was impressive considering how they did not play well at even strength (a supposed advantage for them in this series, but so far, it hasn't been).
"Washington kicked our ass, quite honestly, for most of those minutes in that game (Game 2)," Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella said today. "But we had a hell of a goalie."
The Capitals came to Columbus with waning hope, but a Game 3 winner from Lars Eller has them back in the series. Tortorella said, after two games of penalty trouble and poor 5-on-5 play, that Game 3 was the Blue Jackets' strongest of the series. As luck would have it, Game 3 is their lone loss of the series.
Rather than make a multitude of adjustments and lineup changes, the Blue Jackets are staying the course – the same course that put them on a 13-2-2 clip down the home stretch and helped them secure a berth in these playoffs.
If they can replicate their performance from Tuesday night, Tortorella likes their chances for a different result tonight in Game 4. A win tonight could give them a significant advantage and a chance to close out the series Saturday in Washington.
"I thought both teams played really good the other night – it was easily our best game of the series – we lose, and they find a way to win," Tortorella said. "It's not about changing things because you lose a game. I'm happy the way we played, the number of minutes we played. We're gonna go back at it tonight."
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