The Washington Capitals used a relentless pursuit of the puck in the second overtime period to fight their way back into the best-of-seven opening-round series against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In front of a Columbus-record 19,337 fans at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, the Capitals created their own luck and got a fortunate bounce off of the skate of Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski on a shot from center Lars Eller for the final tally in a 3-2 victory Tuesday night.
PHOTOS: Columbus Blue Jackets face off against Washington Capitals in Game 3 of Stanley Cup Playoffs
Despite the loss, the Blue Jackets still hold a 2-1 lead over the Capitals and will look to push second-seeded Washington to the brink of elimination in their Game 4 matchup at Nationwide Arena in Columbus Thursday night.
Down by one goal after Capitals right winger Tom Wilson opened the scoring with a tally at the 5:52 mark of the second period, the Blue Jackets went to work on the offensive end of the ice.
After controlling the puck to the right of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones sent a cross-rink pass from the faceoff circle in the defensive zone to left winger Artemi Panarin at center ice, and the speedy forward quickly moved across the blue line.
Then, Panarin sailed a pass to center Pierre Luc-Dubois on the right side of the ice, and he rifled a wrist shot out of the reach of Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby and into the back of the next for the equalizer with 11:18 to play in the second period.
Although the Capitals tallied the go-ahead goal later in the second period, the Blue Jackets quickly evened things up after the intermission.
After assisting on Columbus’ first score of the game, Panarin tallied his second goal of the series less than five minutes into the third period.
Right winger Cam Atkinson stole the puck away from Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov along the blue line and traded passes with Panarin all the way through neutral ice, and then, into the attack zone. On the doorstep of the goal crease, Atkinson slid a pass to Panarin and he wristed an attempt beyond Holtby’s outstretched leg and into the net.
