Blue Jackets Lose Werenski & Olivier To Injury, Game to Capitals

Denton Mateychuk(5) scored the only goal for Columbus, and Elvis Merzlikins got shelled in a 5-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Monday night.

This one was hideous. There's no other way to put it. Burn the tape.

First Period - 1-0 Caps Lead - SOG 10-8 Caps

Jakob Chychrun got the Caps off and running when he blasted a puck past Elvis Merzlikins to put Washington up 1-0. Chychrun isn't the player you want to give time and space to if you want to be successful. Ryan Leonard attracted multiple Jackets when he had the puck, and that freed up space for Chychrun to work his magic.

The Blue Jackets had a few scoring chances, but nothing that caused the Caps much anxiety. The Blue Jackets actually led the Caps in high-danger scoring chances 4-3.

Columbus, on the other hand, did have a bit of anxiety when Mathieu Olivier left the game just before the end of the period. After watching the replay, it's unclear exactly what happened, but he was clearly in discomfort both on his way to the bench and while walking down the tunnel. The injury bug is starting to bite the CBJ lately.

Second Period - 4-0 Caps Lead - SOG 12-8 Caps

The second period started with Mathieu Olivier still missing from the Blue Jackets bench.

The Blue Jackets were awarded their first power play when Justin Sourdif tripped Sean Monahan. The Caps killed it off with ease, despite the puck being in the offensive zone for most of the kill. The Capitals did a great job killing off the power play.

Caps rookie Ryan Leonard left the game after he took an accidental hit from the Jackets' Cole Sillinger. Leonard looked woozy on his feet and had to be helped off the ice. Luckily, Columbus avoided a penalty.

Tom Wilson scored his 12th goal of the season when he scored on essentially an empty net. The puck was brought in on Elvis' left but was quickly tick-tack-toed to his right to an awaiting Wilson, who wouldn't miss.

The period started going off the rails when Brendan Gaunce got called for hooking Jakob Chychrun with 51 seconds left. Chychrun wasted no time when he scored his second goal of the game on that power play.

John Carlson scored with two seconds left in the period when the Caps won a faceoff with four seconds left in the period, fed it to the center of the ice to a waiting Carlson.

The score would be 4-0 at the end of two periods. Not a good period for the Blue Jackets.

Third Period - 5-1 - SOG 9-9 - CBJ Goal - Denton Mateychuk

The third period started with the news that Zach Werenski was missing from the bench. CBJ PR posted on X that both Werenski and Olivier would not return to the game due to upper body injuries. Not a good game for Columbus.

Martin Fehérváry made it a 5-0 game when he took a long shot from the point that seemed to go through 4 players to beat Merzlikins. The goal was scored 4:05 into the third period.

Denton Mateychuk scored his 5th goal of the season on the strength of an awesome Brendan Gaunce forecheck. Gaunce came flying down the left side and put a shot on Logan Thompson, who couldn't corral a rebound. Gaunce then got another shot off of the failed rebound by Thompson, who again gave up a nice rebound. The puck ended up on the stick of Mateychuk, who just blasted it in from 12 feet or so. That score made it 5-1.

The Blue Jackets immediately took back-to-back penalties when Damon Severson went off for holding, and Jake Christiansen went off for hooking, putting the Caps on a 5-on-3 advantage. Columbus was able to kill both penalties off with relative ease.

Jakob Chychrun tripped Kent Johnson, giving the CBJ their second power play with 6:32 left in the game. It was the killed and the game was over.

Jackets lose 5-1.

Dean Evason - "We played like crap, all around. We played poorly. We tried in spurts and certainly early in the game, but our overall game, we cannot be happy with."

Final Stats

Player Stats

• Denton Mateychuk scored his 5th goal of the season.

• Brendan Gaunce recorded his first assist and point of the season.

• Jake Christiansen recorded his first assist of the season. It's his first point as well.

• Elvis Merzlikins made 26 saves on 31 shots.

Team Stats

• The Jackets power play went 0/2.

• The Columbus PK stopped 2 of 3 Caps power plays.

• Columbus won 55% of the faceoffs - 22/40

• The Blue Jackets blocked 10 shots.

Up Next: The Jackets return home on Wednesday to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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