Of all the developments in the Blue Jackets’ play this season that have gotten the team off to a solid start, the most notable may be the way Columbus has moved out of the defensive zone this season.

While getting the puck past the blue line and getting out of trouble has been a tough spot the past few years, so far this year the Blue Jackets have been able to get the puck out and use the transition game to create offense.

But that was missing in last night’s 6-2 defeat against Winnipeg. The NHL’s leading Jets forechecked the Blue Jackets to the death, making it difficult for the team to even get out of the defensive zone. This not only led to the Jets scoring, but also stifled the CBJ attack; If you can’t get out of the defensive zone, you won’t be able to quickly cross the neutral zone and the offense becomes much harder to reach.

“We knew coming in we had to get pucks out, get pucks in,” defenseman Zach Werenski said afterward. “It was going to be a bit of a slower game. They played exactly the way they wanted; I don’t think we played the way we wanted to. You don’t win many games in this league unless you play your game and of course against such a good team things could get pretty ugly.”

Winnipeg had large advantages over the Blue Jackets in both shots on goal (44-22) and shot attempts (72-45). According to head coach Dean Evason, it was a combination of the Jets playing their own game and the Blue Jackets not doing enough to bother the visitors.

“This team put pressure on us to make mistakes,” Evason said. “If we hadn’t put the puck on our backhand, made a few passes down the middle of the ice, made smart plays and been decisive in our own zone, that allowed them to get more contact in the offensive zone and gain the confidence they already had.

“If we had played the way we could, getting the pucks behind them and getting after them and running our forecheck, we wouldn’t have had any forecheck all night. There was no pressure or sustained heat in all three zones for us, especially in the offensive zone. They separated very well, but we couldn’t do it. ”

Afterwards, Evason talked about the Blue Jackets needing to play a smarter game, and Werenski noted that the team largely gift-wrapped a win to the hottest team in the league. The good news is we don’t have much time to sulk tonight with the Capitals calling.

“We had already talked in the room that we were excited to get back to that right away,” Evason said. “Lift your head up and we have a game at 5 o’clock. A bite to eat, a short rest and we’re on our way. “If we fix the mistakes in this hockey game and they don’t happen tomorrow night, we give ourselves a chance to win.”

Know the Enemy: Washington Capitals

Head coach: Spencer Carbery (Second season)

Team statistics: Goals per match: 4.11 (3rd) | Scoring defense: 3.00 (9th) | PP: 9.4 percent (30th) | PK: 81.8 percent (10th)

Narrative: Washington hasn’t won a playoff series since winning the 2018 Stanley Cup — hey, nothing wrong with that; The flags fly forever, but they made it to the postseason fifth in the six seasons since they won it all. The team has addressed some needs on an aging roster this summer, but while it is without longtime teammates Niklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie due to an injury to Alexander Ovechkin, it still has the ability to score and sits within 36 points of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record. .

Team leaders: Dylan Strome has found a home in Washington, leading the way with three goals among his 13 assists this season, while Ovechkin and Connor McMichael follow with matching 5-5-10 streaks. Aliaksei Protas has become a reliable part of the offense with three goals and nine points, while John Carlson ranks second in the NHL with his 2-6-8 record and plus-11 rating. He also has the team lead in goals, with Tom Wilson scoring six goals after scoring a hat-trick on Thursday.

Charlie Lindgren and newly acquired Logan Thompson split the starts in net. Lindgren is 3-2-0 with a 2.62 GAA and a .883 save percentage, while Thompson has won all four starts with a 3.21 GAA and a .876 save percentage.

What’s new: The Caps were one of the busiest teams in the NHL this offseason, recruiting Thompson as well as forwards Pierre-Luc Dubois, Andrew Mangiapane, Taylor Raddysh and Brandon Duhaime to rebuild the scoring group. Add in Jacob Chychrun on the back end (even though he missed the last game with an upper-body injury) and the Caps have a pretty new look, and it’s paying off so far with the team tied in the Metro Division and Eastern Conference with Carolina . In terms of points percentage.

Trend: Columbus lost all three contests against its division rival last year, losing in the finals 2-1 and 4-3 in D.C. before an overtime loss at home in December. The Blue Jackets are just 2-7-2 in the series over the last three years.

Old CBJ: Dubois, the Jackets’ first-round pick, No. 3 overall, in the 2016 draft, was traded from Los Angeles to Washington this summer and went 1-4-5 in nine games. Sonny Milano, the team’s first-round pick in 2014, also went to Washington but was a healthy scratch for eight of nine games.