PREVIEW: Blue Jackets will try to snap losing skid at Washington

BLUE JACKETS (12-9-0) at CAPITALS (14-4-6)

But as head coach Brad Larsen said before Thursday night's game against Nashville, the key to making the playoffs isn't so much how you do when things are going well but how you get out of the skids.
And the hope for the Jackets is that rock bottom was Tuesday's 6-0 loss at Nashville. While there were parts of some of the other games that Columbus players and coaches felt were pretty solid, there wasn't much time in the loss to the Predators where the Jackets were on their game.
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So progress was made Thursday night even though the end result was a 3-2 loss to Dallas. The team turned in a solid all-around first period in the first start for rookie goaltender Daniil Tarasov, and while there was a little too much given up in transition and not enough generated the rest of the way to come out with a win, things like the team's compete level and defensive zone breakouts were noticeably better in Dallas than in Nashville.
"It's definitely a lot better than the last game and the game before that," captain Boone Jenner said. "It's a step in the right direction, yeah. I thought we put in a lot of good minutes in our zone. I thought we were defending well, having five guys in there and breaking the puck out."
Better is the goal, and if tonight's game against Metropolitan Division-leading Washington keeps trending that direction, the Blue Jackets will start to feel like their game is getting back on the right track.
"There was some push in our game," Larsen said of the game in Dallas. "We were trying to do the right things. We have a lot of things we have to correct here, and it doesn't all come at once."
What was also noticeable was how much more quickly the Blue Jackets moved the puck against the Stars. Whether that was because of more familiar lines, some film work or just luck, things looked much more direct and simple for much of the contest, and that allowed the Jackets to have more of the puck and not get hemmed in their zone nearly as much as previous games.
It's something that has to continue with a strong Washington team up next on the docket.
"Yeah, I mean when things are not going that well, you try to keep it simple," winger Alexandre Texier said. "I think we tried to do that as a team and I tried to do that too, but yeah, at the end we care about the result so we have to learn and move on."

Know the Foe

Now that the NHL divisional alignment is back to its natural state after a year away, the Capitals find themselves in a very familiar place - atop the Metropolitan Division.
Peter Laviolette's team has earned points in 20 of 24 games thus far to move clear of the rest of the pack, and that might be no surprise considering the Caps finished first in the Metro each of the past five years it existed from 2016-20.
The biggest story, of course, has been the incredible play of an incredible player, as Alexander Ovechkin is turning in another season for the ages. Now fourth all-time in career annals with 749 goals, he's been one of the top players in the game at age 36 this year, placing tied for second in the NHL with 19 goals, tied for eighth with 19 assists and third with 38 points.
That standout play by Ovechkin has helped Washington overcome the loss of two of their longtime veteran standouts in Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie. Backstrom is yet to play this year because of a hip injury, while Oshie has skated in just eight games (4-3-7) with a lower-body injury.
The good news for the Caps is that both skated at practice Friday, though Oshie is expected to be closer to a return than Backstrom. Conor Sheary, who has been out with an upper-body injury, also returned to practice.
But Washington could be without a number of other notable names, though, with defenseman Nic Dowd missing practice with illness and John Carson, Carl Hagelin and Garnet Hathaway all taking maintenance days. The team also remains without Anthony Mantha (upper body).
On the year, Evgeny Kuznetsov went from being an offseason trade target to one of the top scorers in the league, posting an 8-20-28 line to place tied for fifth in scoring. Tom Wilson is also off to an impressive start with eight goals, 23 points and a plus-14 rating, and Carlson adds 5-17-22. On the strength of those big names, the Caps have powered their way to fifth in the league in scoring (3.54 goals per game).
In net, Vitek Vanecek has started 13 games and is 4-3-5 with a 2.56 GAA and .905 save percentage, while Ilya Samsonov is 9-1-1 with a 2.52 GAA and .915 save percentage. On the whole, Washington allows 2.50 goals per game, fourth in the league, and the team's scoring margin of plus-1.04 goals per game is third in the league behind Calgary (plus-1.26) and Florida (plus-1.17)
The teams met already in Nationwide Arena on Nov. 12, with Sheary's goal in the final minutes giving the Caps a 4-3 victory. Ovechkin scored in that one while Hathaway tallied twice and Samsonov had 26 saves.