The Columbus Blue Jackets returned home to Nationwide Arena looking to build on their two-game lead over the Washington Capitals in the first round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the opposite proved to be true in Games 3 and 4 this week.
Fresh off of an overtime win over the Blue Jackets Tuesday, the Capitals scored at least once in each period and posted a 4-1 win in Game 4 in Columbus Thursday night.
PHOTOS: Columbus Blue Jackets battle Washington Capitals in Game 4 of Stanley Cup Playoffs
The win sends the series back to the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. tied at 2-2, and makes it a best-of-three over Games 5 through 7.
The Capitals jumped out to a 1-0 lead when right winger Tom Wilson scored on a one-timer with 13:44 remaining in the first period.
After Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped a pair of shots on a scramble in front of the net, first with the glove, and then, on a diving lunge to his right with the blocker pad, the puck worked its way over to the boards where Washington’s Evgeny Kuznetsov set up Wilson for the shot.
The right-handed Wilson blasted the one-timer out of the reach of Bobrovsky and into the back of the net for his second tally of the series.
Up by a 1-0 count after the first period, the Capitals extended their lead at the 10:41 mark of the second stanza.
After Bobrovsky turned away shots from defenseman John Carlson, as well as his former Olympics teammate from Russia, Alex Ovechkin, the rebound popped loose in the slot where right winger T.J. Oshie jammed it into the net.
Although Ovechkin was twice turned away by Bobrovsky from point-blank range, including on a breakaway late in the game after a defensive miscue from Blue Jackets blue-liner Zach Werenski, the veteran forward got a measure of revenge against his countryman with 17:11 to play in the third period.
Ovechkin received a pass from Kuznetsov to the right of the slot and rifled a wrist shot past Bobrovsky’s glove.
While the Blue Jackets got on the board when center Boone Jenner tallied a little more than six minutes into the third period, the Capitals got back their three-goal margin with an empty-netter from Kuznetsov.
