National Hockey League
Columbus 2, Washington 1
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 12, 2019
Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, District of Columbia
Referees: Tom Chmielewski, Graham Skilliter
Linesmen: Kory Nagy, Pierre Racicot
Attendance: 18506

Artemi Panarin scored a power-play goal with 1:30 left in overtime that gave the Columbus Blue Jackets a 2-1 victory over the host Washington Capitals on Saturday night.

Nicklas Backstrom had been whistled for slashing just 12 seconds earlier, and that gave Columbus the extra man. Seth Jones slid a pass over to Panarin by the left circle, and he ripped a slap shot past goalie Pheonix Copley for the game-winner. It was Panarin's second game-winning goal in overtime in the last two games as the Jackets on Thursday beat the Nashville Predators 4-3.

With consecutive OT victories, the Blue Jackets earned their ninth win in 12 games. Washington's three-game winning streak came to an end.

Goalie Joonas Korpisalo made 32 saves for Columbus, repeatedly robbing the Capitals, especially during a third period when they came up with several scoring chances.

Also, for Columbus, there had been issues with goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. There had been an incident after Tuesday's loss to Tampa Bay in which the club scratched him for Thursday's game against Nashville for disciplinary reasons.

But Bobrovsky met with management and talked to the team and came to Washington for this game. Still, he did not start, and backed up Korpisalo, but Bobrovsky told the Columbus media on Friday that the matter was fixed.

The Blue Jackets jumped on top early. Cam Atkinson was sprung by a long pass up the middle from Markus Nutivaara, then broke in alone on goalie Braden Holtby before beating him with a backhander one minute into the game.

Atkinson became the reason why the Capitals needed to pull Holtby 8:43 into the second period. The Columbus forward's stick poked Holtby in the face or eye (through his mask), and the Washington goalie could not continue.

Copley (10 saves) came on for Holtby, and Atkinson was given a two-minute penalty for high-sticking. Washington's struggling power play could not take advantage of it, and the game remained at 1-0.

The Capitals tried to increase the pressure on the Blue Jackets' defense in the third period with longer stretch passes since Columbus kept stacking the neutral zone. Those helped Washington come up with several scoring chances, and Evgeny Kuznetsov tied it with 1:06 left after Copley was pulled for an extra attacker.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Columbus   Washington
Cam Atkinson 1 Points Evgeny Kuznetsov 1
Cam Atkinson 1 Goals Evgeny Kuznetsov 1
Pierre-Luc Dubois 1 Assists John Carlson 1
Artemi Panarin 1 Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Joonas Korpisalo .970 Save Percentage Pheonix Copley .909
Joonas Korpisalo 32 Saves Pheonix Copley 10
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Columbus 22 2 1-3 2-2 4 36
Washington 33 1 0-2 2-3 6 40
Upcoming Games
  • Washington will play their next game at home against St. Louis. The Capitals have a W/L % of .607 after a win and .625 after a loss.
  • Columbus will play their next game at home against NY Rangers. The Blue Jackets have a W/L % of .440 after a win and .789 after a loss.