Columbus Blue Jackets’ Evason calls Olivier’s major penalty ‘baffling’
Columbus Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said an elbowing major penalty on Mathieu Olivier was ‘baffling’ in a 5-1 loss to the Washington Capitals.
A controversial major penalty call against Mathieu Olivier led to two late Washington Capitals power-play goals.Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason expressed frustration with an officiating decision that turned a close game into a 5-1 rout.Despite outplaying the Capitals for much of the first two periods, the Blue Jaxkets struggled to beat goalie Logan Thompson.Dmitri Voronkov had another goal overturned by video review, which was his third in seven games.
Dean Evason didn’t fully blow his stack like a former Blue Jackets coach might have, but his postgame comments were filled with seething incredulousness.
At issue was a major penalty on Mathieu Olivier for elbowing with 7:25 left in the third period of the Blue Jackets’ 5-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Oct. 24 at Nationwide Arena. Trailing 3-1 at the time, the Blue Jackets’ hopes of a comeback were stamped out during a five-minute Capitals power play that led to goals by Tom Wilson and Connor McMichael.
Olivier declined to speak with reporters afterward. Captain Boone Jenner and defenseman Denton Mateychuk each bit their tongue in diplomatic fashion, though the former did disagree with the call. Evason couldn’t believe what he had witnessed.
“I don’t want to say we were better, what have you, but we had no business … that’s not a 5-1 hockey game,” he said. “That was such a great game. It really was. Like, we come in after the first period and we’re just like, ‘Man, this is fast, it’s great, guys are playing hard.’ … Just stay out of the bloody thing.”
He shook his head and dropped his arms from the lectern with disbelief.
“Let the players frickin’ figure it out, and they’re not allowed to do that because of what happened,” Evason said. “It’s frustrating as hell.”
It was also the most perturbed Evason has gotten since taking over as the Blue Jackets’ coach in July 2024. It won’t be surprising if a fine is issued to Evason from the NHL, which almost always sides with its officials and rarely makes them available to reporters following controversial calls.
Evason and Blue Jackets players had already limited their comments about multiple overturned goals that went against them in their first six games, but this call pushed the veteran coach to the teetering edge of his boiling point.
“I just … I don’t understand it,” Evason said. “I just don’t. I’m talking to some very intelligent hockey people that just don’t understand what that call was. There’s no intent (of elbowing). It’s baffling. It’s just … it’s frustrating because it just seems like we’re … it’s just frustrating.”
Who’s ready for a fun trip to Pittsburgh, eh?
Here are more takeaways:
Olivier’s elbowing major was called after he finished a check in the Washington zone. Declan Chisholm, a Capitals defenseman, had already sent an exit pass up the ice when Olivier slid over for the hit.
Replays show Chisholm recoil just before Olivier arrived, which possibly contributed to the Blue Jackets forward grazing his cheek with the outside of his left arm. Where Evason and the Blue Jackets have a strong rebuttal is with Olivier’s body position, which doesn’t include him jutting his elbow out.
The contact appears incidental. Chisholm didn’t miss a shift and the play could have been ruled a minor penalty. Instead, a major was assessed and upheld following a video review to determine the severity of the hit.
The Blue Jackets have watched officials reduce more violent and intentional hits by opposing players from majors to minors, so Evason’s reaction is understandable.
It would be surprising if the NHL fines or suspends Olivier, but that’s a possibility with the major penalty standing.
“Ollie knows he’s finishing a check on a guy who jumps the hell out of the way and might hit his head on the glass,” Evason said. “There’s no intent for a head shot. There’s no elbow to the face. He knows what he’s doing. He’s finishing his check. That’s all he’s doing. … He did the right thing.”
The game unraveled for the Blue Jackets late in the second period and early in the third, when the Capitals took a 3-0 lead on goals by John Carlson, Alex Ovechkin and Justin Sourdif.
Outside of that span plus the stretch with Olivier in the penalty box, the Blue Jackets stood toe-to-toe with one of the NHL’s best teams to start out. The Capitals held big advantages in most statistical measures prior to the game, including some tied to possession share, but the Blue Jackets outplayed them for most of the first two periods.
They outshot the Capitals 22-14 in those 40 minutes, including 10-2 in the second period, but trailed 1-0 starting the third thanks to Washington goalie Logan Thompson’s excellence.
“Their goalie was great,” Evason said. “Some of the saves, we were like, ‘What the heck? How’d he do that?’ We hit three posts. We just went over it. I’d argue that it wasn’t just the first part of the game (we controlled). It was until, you know … what happened at the end (with Olivier).”
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Blue Jackets had advantages at even strength in nearly all measures.
They finished with more attempts (52-38), unblocked attempts (43-29), shots (30-20), scoring chances (30-25), high-danger chances (15-8) and expected goals (3.42-2.58). The Capitals, however, left with a 3-1 edge in actual goals scored at even strength and tacked on two more during Olivier’s penalty.
“We’ll take a ton of positivity out of this hockey game,” Evason said. “They know how well they played, and they know they just need to keep doing that. We’ll get rewarded.”
Columbus Blue Jackets’ Dmitri Voronkov has another goal overturned
Just 39 seconds after Denton Mateychuk pulled the Blue Jackets within 3-1 midway through the third, it looked like they’d made it 3-2 during a scramble in front of the Capitals’ net.
The cannon went off, there was much rejoicing and then came the video review. Instead of staying a goal, the play became Dmitri Voronkov’s third erased goal in the season’s first seven games.
The previous two were overturned for illegally directing a puck into the net with his chest Oct. 16 in a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche and for a missed offsides play Oct. 18 in a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Against Washington, replays showed the Blue Jackets power forward kicked a loose puck into the net from the low slot with a slick maneuver that would draw rave reviews on a soccer pitch. It’s a no-no on a hockey rink, which probably should have been disallowed by officials without the need for a video review.
Voronkov also sent a puck off the right post during a power play in the second period, so with better luck his goal total could be six in seven games rather than three.
Columbus Blue Jackets face daunting challenge against Pittsburgh Penguins
The Blue Jackets need to win Oct. 25 in Pittsburgh to avoid being swept in their first set of 15 back-to-back games.
That might not sound difficult facing a team that missed the playoffs and finished seventh in the Metropolitan Division last season, but the Penguins are 6-2-0 and usually give the Blue Jackets nightmares at PPG Paints Arena.
The Jackets’ shootout victory last season on Jan. 7 in Pittsburgh ended a losing streak there that stretched back to 2015, and now they’re returning to face the Penguins the day after a sour loss to the Capitals in Columbus.
That’s not a great scenario for the Blue Jackets, but they’ve already shown resilience by following tough losses to Nashville and Colorado with wins. They’ll need another to avoid a disappointing sweep starting a string of back-to-backs.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social