By james art 
Less than 24 hours after a 6-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets, the Columbus Blue Jackets arrived in Washington looking to bounce back against the Capitals. Would they?
First period
no!
CAPITALS GOAL – Alexey Protas by Dylan Strome and Alexander Ovechkin – 0:56 1st period
CAPITALS GOAL – Connor McMichael by Rasmus Sandin – 1:42 of 1st period
CAPITALS GOAL – Andrew Mangiapane by Jakub Vrana and Hendricks Lapierre – 7:28 1st period
CAPITALS GOAL – Alexander Ovechkin by Dylan Strome – 14:34 of 1st period
CAPITALS GOAL – Nick Dowd by Trevor van Riemsdyk & Brandon Duhaime – 14:58 of 1st period
Everything was nasty during that period. Five goals against. Four defensive collapses. Three goals by the Capitals before the first shot by the Jackets. Two occasions of two goals in less than a minute. And a partridge in a pear.
We had a strong game. It was the middle. Nothing became offensive. He did nothing defensively. This game was demoted to quadbox status after less than eight minutes.
Objectives for the others: Go out and fight, win the next two periods, try not to bring back the ghosts of the past.
Second period
The good news: This was much better!
The Jackets opened the second period with a quick goal, with Damon Severson barely scoring one through Logan Thompson.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Damon Severson by Adam Fantilly – 0:56 2nd period
Unfortunately, the Capitals would get one back as Connor McMichael got his second of the night, taking a shot past David Jiricek on a 2-on-1 chance.
CAPITALS GOAL – Connor McMichael (2) by Tom Wilson & Pierre-Luc Dubois – 4:51 of 2nd period
Oddly enough, the Blue Jackets actually started looking good after that. Columbus got consistent zone time, looked like it could run the game it wanted to, and overall actually looked halfway decent! They outscored Washington 19-9 in that span and actually led in Corsi%, Fenwick% and Expected Goals (63.86%, 58.82% and 4.16-1.6 respectively), making the Capitals struggle. After an exchange of penalties, this contest would lead to a goal as Kevin Labanc literally scored his first as a Blue Jacket after a long review.
BLUE JACKETS GOAL – Kevin Labanc by Zach Aston-Reese – 14:36 of 2nd period
The Jackets would keep the pressure going and win another power play with two minutes left. Considering the scoreboard, this was about as good a period as you can ask for from CBJ. Win it 2-1!
Third period
To be honest, it was kind of a paltry third period burger. Neither team was able to mount any kind of sustained pressure, more or less just letting the clock wind down. Just 15 shots on goal in the frame.
However, one of them came in while I was writing it. Ovechkin found Strome to add the cherry on top of their 7-2 melba.
CAPITALS GOAL – Dylan Strome by Alexander Ovechkin and Taylor Radish – 18:34 3rd period
The Jackets begin the West Coast leg of the road trip Tuesday night in San Jose. It’s also voting day, so don’t forget to vote! And the weather is changing tonight, so check your watches too. Eat your vegetables, god save the queen.