Capitals at Blue Jackets
The Washington Capitals are watching history repeat itself in the postseason, victimized by an opponent that is enjoying its first taste of playoff success. After rallying for a pair of overtime victories in Washington, the Columbus Blue Jackets can put a stranglehold on their Eastern Conference first-round series when they host the Capitals in Game 3 of the best-of-seven set on Tuesday night.
Columbus has never led, much less won, a postseason series but became only the fifth team in history to erase multiple-goal deficits in the opening two games of a playoff series. "It's a mindset. It's a bridge we have crossed and I hope we stay on the right side," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "We go out there knowing we're going to win. We're there to win. Not hope. As we've gone through a process as a young team the past couple of years, it was hoping." Washington now is in the position of hoping to avoid another early playoff exit -- it has lost in the second round in each of the past three seasons but did push Pittsburgh to seven games a year ago after also dropping the first two at home. "You're right now in a hard position," acknowledged Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin. "But it's going to be fun when we bounce back and (we're) going to tie the series and come back here and play Game 5 at home."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, Sportsnet360, TVAS, NBCS Washington, FS Ohio (Columbus)
ABOUT THE CAPITALS: Washington learned Monday that forward Andre Burakovsky will miss at least the next two games after sustaining an upper-body injury and he will be replaced by Jakub Vrana, who was a healthy scratch Tuesday after collecting an assist in the series opener. "There was a lot of jitters in his game," coach Barry Trotz said of Vrana. "The game was a little bit overwhelming. As a staff, we looked at that. But ... he's going to fill that hole exactly as Burakovsky's done." Trotz said he has made his decision on his starting goaltender in Game 3 but would not disclose if he is going back to Braden Holtby after he replaced Philipp Grubauer in the third period of Sunday's loss.
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS: Matt Calvert delivered the deciding tally in overtime Sunday, but Cam Atkinson netted two goals to rally Columbus from a pair of two-goal deficits and continue a late-season binge that has seen him score 13 times over his last 13 games. "I think he's at a higher level now than he was even last year, and it's at a perfect time," Tortorella said of Atkinson, who pumped in a career-best 35 goals in 2016-17. Two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky entered the series with a ghastly 3-10 postseason record but he has been immense in the first two games, setting a franchise record with 54 saves, including 21 in the third period, in Sunday's victory.
OVERTIME
1. Teams who have lost the first two of a best-of-seven series at home have come back to win on only 19 of 89 occasions.
2. Atkinson is riding an 11-game point streak.
3. Washington is 5 of 13 on the power play but has allowed Columbus to convert on 4 of 8 chances with the extra skater.