The Capitals almost fell down 3-0 in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal against the Blue Jackets. But they didn’t, thanks to this double-overtime goal credited to Lars Eller:
The Capitals finally scored their own overtime goal to stay alive vs. the Blue Jackets
The Blue Jackets and Capitals only play overtime games now. The Caps got to celebrate one at last.
The puck went in off Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski at 9:00 of the second overtime period, capping a 3-2 Washington win.
This was the series’ third overtime finish in three games, and the Capitals avoided falling into a basically-insurmountable series hole by finally winning one.
In Game 1, Artemi Panarin scored for Columbus at 6:02 of overtime.
Capitals goaltender Philipp Grubauer should’ve stopped this shot. Panarin put together a beautiful individual effort to give himself a chance, but he was still shooting from a lousy angle and without much mustard. Grubauer simply sprung a leak on the far side. Defenseman Dmitry Orlov didn’t help by giving Panarin time to turn the puck from his backhand to his forehand before flicking it on goal.
In Game 2, Matt Calvert scored at 12:22 of OT to give the Jackets a 2-0 lead.
Calvert was camped out right in front of Braden Holtby, who’d replaced Grubauer at the second intermission after Grubauer gave up four goals. Holtby let loose a rebound, and defenseman Jakub Jerabek did nothing to prevent a poke-in by Calvert.
This series isn’t for the feint of heart.
And because the Capitals got their own OT marker, it’s not over yet.
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