Earlier this week, Jason Chimera found himself scratched and wasn't too pleased. Against his former team Thursday, Chimera made certain that he would keep his spot.
Chimera pounced on a rebound in overtime to score his first goal since February 4 and lift the Capitals to a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
"It went to the net soft," Chimera said. "It kind of went off their defenseman and it kind of ended up right on my tape so it's hard to miss those ones. Those are nice, especially nice against your old team. It was a good night."
The Caps took an early lead when John Carlson put them up 1-0 about two minutes into the game. A furious spurt in the second period saw both teams trade four goals within a 2:17 span, but the Caps held a 3-2 lead heading into the third period. That lead lasted until 14:23, when Scottie Upshall fought off two defenders and ripped a wrist shot past Michal Neuvirth (20 saves) to tie the game at 3-3. As was the theme all night, the Caps took advantage of Steve Mason's shaky goaltending. Brooks Laich fired a shot on net that Mason could not control. Chimera was there to poke it in.
Washington, who is next to last in the NHL with 49 first period goals, isn't used to scoring early goals, but found a way to win.
"Sometimes when we get a lead so early, we kind of settle in instead of keep pushing the pace and that was a classic example of what we did tonight," Carlson said. "It's good we found a way to win. It was a good character win to pull it back after we had so many leads throughout the game. At the end of the day, we were happy but not satisfied."