Blue Jackets Score: April 2, 2017

Game 78 / Check out the whole project here

The first period was a little light, but the rest of the game sure had its tumbles.

-The first 20 minutes of the game we looked pretty evenly matched. Both the Jackets and Capitals could feel the energy at the sold out arena. It wasn’t until we hit the second period that the ice really started to move. The Capitals scored 2 goals in the first 3 minutes of play. It was deflating. Then, at about halfway through the period Washington knocked in a 3rd goal. The crowd booed in displeasure.

-The final period was our moment to play the game like we wanted: with scrappy passion. We battled back to score 2 goals, one singlehanded effort by Johnson and another by Quincy when he took the puck from Saad and fired it past Holtby.

-With so much playoff energy in the air some fights were expected. Tonight the game was littered with scrums and six separate instances of roughing was called for a total of 14 penalty minutes. One of the bigger instances occurred in the third when Werenski took a hit against the boards from Alexander Ovechkin and the rest of the team responded. Even Holtby and Bob got in on some fighting, which made Tortorella proud.

-With every loss we get further away from the opportunity to have home-ice advantage in the first-round playoff series. If we keep being unable to convert, it looks like Pittsburgh might be starting off on the better skate.

-The Jackets are scoreless through 19 power-play chances in the last 10 games.