It was a penalty-filled night when the Washington Capitals rolled in to Ohio’s capital city.
The Columbus Blue Jackets’ Boone Jenner was fired up from the start. He made his first appearance on the scoresheet by bumping Caps’ goaltender Braden Holtby, earning a two-minute break in the penalty box. Later, he’d pick up another five minutes for dropping the gloves. (We’ll get to that.)
Although the teams combined for 58 minutes in penalties – Jenner posting seven of those – it was an unpenalized play that might have the most impact for the Caps.
Late in the first period, Jenner hit Capitals defenseman Mike Green into the boards. Hard. No penalty was called on the play by either referee.
Green stayed down for about a minute before skating off under his own power. He returned to the Caps bench before the end of the period, but his comeback was short-lived, as he headed back down the tunnel to the dressing room a few minutes later. Green did not return. He’ll be re-evaluated when the team gets to Detroit.
Despite the lack of a penalty call, it looked like something that the NHL’s Department of Player Safety might want to review. They did. They determined there would be no hearing and no supplemental discipline for the hit.
About that fight… Whether out for revenge or just trying to spark his team’s comeback, Washington’s Troy Brouwer engaged in some fisticuffs with Jenner early in the third.
Brouwer spoke about the hit after the game:
“I just didn’t like how he drove him in at the end of his hit; Green got injured as a result of it,” Brouwer said. “It’s a situation where a guy on our team gets hurt and we don’t want those types of hits to stand on our team.”
