Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena. The Jackets struck first less than two minutes into the game, but the Caps quickly tied things up moments later with a power play goal by John Carlson, as the first period would end in a 1-1 tie. Tom Wilson would provide the lone goal in the middle frame, but the Jackets would tie things up late in the third period with a goal from Brandon Dubinsky. Nicklas Backstrom would win it with his 200th NHL goal with less than a minute to play. The home-and-home set shifts to the District this Friday when the same two teams go at it at Capital One Arena. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM. 

STARTERS
Braden Holtby (26-10-2, 2.78 GAA, .914 sv%) started in goal for the Capitals. Sergei Bobrovsky (22-16-4, 2.46 GAA, .921 sv%) started between the pipes for the Blue Jackets. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

Forwards
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Connolly-Eller-Burakovsky
Stephenson-Beagle-DSP
Defense
Djoos-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Bowey

Scratches: Taylor Chorney and Alex Chiasson

FIRST PERIOD:
The Blue Jackets would strike first just 1:58 into the contest when David Savard notched his 4th tally of the season.

The Capitals would tie things up with a power play goal from John Carlson at 4:54 of the opening frame. The goal was setup with a nice feed from Nicklas Backstrom.

Grady Whittenburg and Ken Sabourin on the Washington Capitals Radio Network.

Tom Wilson and Josh Anderson would drop the mitts at 7:37 of the first period. Wilson would get the better of Anderson.

Grady Whittenburg and Ken Sabourin on the Washington Capitals Radio Network.

The period would end with the Capitals and Blue Jackets tied 1-1. The Capitals outshot the Blue Jackets 12-11 for the first 20 minutes. The Caps won the battle at the faceoff dot 53-47%.

SECOND PERIOD
The Capitals would take their first lead with a goal from Tom Wilson at the 5:00 mark of the middle frame. The goal was setup by a beautiful feed from Alex Ovechkin. This was Wilson’s 7th goal of the season.

That would be all of the scoring in the middle frame. Columbus outshot the Caps 17-7 for the second period, and led 28-19 for the first 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD
The Blue Jackets would tie the game late with a goal by Brandon Dubinsky at 13:55 of the final frame.

Nicklas Backstrom would win it with a goal at 19:17 of the final frame. This was Backstrom’s 12 goal of the season, and 200th of his NHL career.

Grady Whittenburg and Ken Sabourin on the Washington Capitals Radio Network.

The Capitals would hang on for the 3-2 win. The Capitals were outshot 11-6 for the final frame, and 39-25 for the game.

SHAVINGS

• First game of a back-to-back set.
• Nicklas Backstrom scored the game winner with his 200th career NHL goal.
• Backstrom becomes the 5th Capitals player to register 200 goals.
• Backstrom’s game winning goal was the second time this season he has scored a game-winning goal in the final 10 minutes of the game.
• Tom Wilson records his seventh goal of the season. That’s the 13th goal the Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-Tom Wilson line has produced together at five-on-five this season.
• The Capitals have scored at least one goal in each of their last 11 periods of hockey.
• The Capitals have earned a point in 11 of their last 12 games against the Blue Jackets (9-1-2) and in 20 of their last 24 games against Columbus (16-4-4).
• Washington has earned a point in seven straight games at Nationwide Arena (5-0-2).
• NHL box score is here.

By Jon Sorensen