The Washington Capitals are aiming to extend their franchise-record road winning streak to 10 games when they face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
The Blue Jackets have lost four of their last five games, including a 5-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at home on Tuesday night.
Kent Johnson scored one goal and assisted on another, while Zach Werenski and Sean Monahan also scored for the Blue Jackets. Elvis Merzlikins allowed five goals and made 20 saves in the loss, as the Blue Jackets were behind 3-0 and 5-1 at different points in the game.
“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, with three goals and 10 assists.
It was the 14th straight game in which the Blue Jackets allowed a power-play goal, and they will now face a Capitals team with a much-improved power play recently.
“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 enter Columbus with an 11-2-0 road record and are at the top of the Metropolitan Division. Even though they have been without superstar Alex Ovechkin for the past nine games due to injury, the Capitals have a plus-35 goal differential for the season.
There is some positive news on the injury front for Washington. Ovechkin continues to skate on his own and took passes from former teammate Nicklas Backstrom (who is also on 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 was hit in the face by a shot from teammate Jakob Chychrun in Montreal on Saturday, managed to return and score two goals. Wilson has a small fracture in a bone in his sinus cavity area. His doctor recommended that he wear a full shield for four weeks, but Wilson expects 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, referring to 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 their 4-2 comeback win in Montreal. Wilson scored two goals in the third period, Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist, and Logan Thompson made 22 saves. The Capitals are 6-0-1 in their 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 win over Montreal was their third comeback win of the season. In their previous meeting with the Blue Jackets, Connor McMichael scored twice, Ovechkin had a goal and two assists, and the Capitals won 7-2 on November 2 in Washington.
