Washington Capitals vs. Columbus Blue Jackets at Capital One Arena

The Washington Capitals have won 7 of 9 and are now looking to take over first place from the New Jersey Devils in the Metropolitan Division with another W.

Today's challenge comes in the form of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have a record over .500 early in the season (5-4-1) despite some suspect five-on-five games (44.88 xGF%). The team is led by Kirill Marchenko, who has 12 points (4g, 8a) in 10 games, and leading scorer Sean Monahan (6). Goalkeeper Danill Tarasov has won 3 of his first 5 games in net. The Blue Jackets are coming off a game last night where they played at home against the Winnipeg Jets and lost 6-2.

The biggest change for Washington comes with the return of Hendrix Lapierre to the lineup, while Logan Thompson will take the starting position in goal.

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The Capitals-Blue Jackets game will be broadcast on Monumental Sports Network. Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin have the call. The puck drop occurs shortly after 5:00 p.m.

lines

Washington Capitals

Columbus Blue Jackets

Tunnel shenanigans

Boys just do stupid things#ALLCAPS | @CaesarsSports pic.twitter.com/xpcIkEmGCD

– Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 2, 2024

1st period

2 shifts, 2 goals! Electric start, people.

🚨 1-0 Washington Capitals. WSH goal: Aliaksei Protas (4). Assists: D. Strome (11), A. Ovechkin (6). Time: 0:56.

Ovechkin overtakes Strome and Protas in a duel. After some great passes, Protas hits a layup into the goal. Ovi scores career point No. 1,561 with secondary assist.

🚨 2-0 Washington Capitals. WSH goal: Connor McMichael (6). Assists: R. Sandin (5). Time: 01:42.

McMichael hits the far corner with a powerful shot. Mikey has now scored five goals in his last five games.

🚨 3-0 Washington Capitals. WSH goal: Andrew Mangiapane (3). Assists: J. Vrana (2), H. Lapierre (1). Time: 07:28.

This is Hendrix Lapierre's first point of the season. The Capitals scored on three of their first four shots.

The Caps dominate in every facet of the game. Columbus initially has no answers.

🚨 4-0 Washington Capitals. WSH goal: Alex Ovechkin (6). Assists: D. Strome (12). Time: 14:34.

Ovi's slap shot hits Tarasov and goes through the fifth hole. This is career goal number 859 and point number 1562.

🚨 5-0 Washington Capitals. WSH goal: Nic Dowd (4). Assists: T. van Riemsdyk (7), B. Duhaime (2). Time: 14:58.

They pour it out. All four Capitals lines scored in the first third alone.

The Capitals scored on 5 of their first 7 shots against Tarasov in the first period – a shooting percentage of 71.4%.

— Ian Oland (@ianoland) November 2, 2024

In the break: On the scoreboard, it was a defeat of epic proportions. But not so much in the process. The Capitals lead 8 shots to 5. Somewhat surprisingly, the Blue Jackets are 20-for-17 on 5-on-5 attempts.

2nd period

Puck is dropped.

🚨 5-1 Washington Capitals. CBJ goal: Damon Severson (3). Assists: A. Fantilli (3). Time: 0:49.

Forty-nine seconds into the period, the Blue Jackets score after a faceoff by Adam Fantilli in CBJ's offensive zone. Severson's shot from the top of the circle squeaks through Logan Thompson's fifth hole. Craig Laughlin calls it a “leaky target.”

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