Boston Bruins bloodied and outplayed by Washington Capitals in loss

The inconsistent play is back everyone.  The Boston Bruins couldn’t stop the Great Eight from doing what he does, and ended up with a tally in the loss column.

For a Boston Bruins team with consistency issues, a 6 game point streak was an encouraging sign.  However, that point streak is now over courtesy of Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.  The Bruins did everything they could to prove me wrong from my Causeway gameday article from yesterday.

In terms of streaks, the Capitals had an impressive streak of their own.  The team from DC hadn’t lost a game against the Bruins since March 29, 2014.  Just for a point of reference, the game winning goal was scored in that game by…Jarome Iginla.  Whoa, that’s a long time.

1st period

The first period, as was a common theme during this game, was dominated by the Capitals.  The Bruins couldn’t seem to establish any sort of offensive spark.  They were being out-muscled and out-chanced.

The goal scoring started when Department of Player Safety regular Tom Wilson fired a puck in from right along the goal line.  Lars Eller threw the puck on net, and after it deflected off Patrice Bergeron right to Wilson, he scored his first of the season from the sharp angle at 7:01 of the period.

“The Bruins defense, missing Adam McQuaid but with a serviceable replacement in Paul Postma, is starting to mesh.”  Yep, I wrote that yesterday.  Then, we had to watch Alexander Ovechkin be handed a breakaway on Tuukka Rask on a silver platter later in the first.  Luckily, Rask bailed out young blueliner Charlie McAvoy, and stood tall under pressure.

But Rask can’t do everything.  Shortly after the breakaway attempt.  Ovechkin found himself unaccounted for in his wheelhouse.  Wayne Gretzky’s office was behind the net; Ovechkin’s wheelhouse is right the top of the left faceoff circle.  After some impressive tape-to-tape cross ice passing, Ovechkin blasted home the one-timer, extending the Caps lead to 2-0.

It’s amazing how Ovechkin always manages to find himself open there.  Actually, it’s more amazing that defenses allow him to get open there, especially even-strength.

2nd period

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The shoddy play by the Bruins continued into the 2nd period.  However, the Bruins were able to show some life with the reunited line of Brad Marchand, Bergeron, and David Pastrnak.  Pastrnak’s speed and Bergeron’s vision were crucial to the play that got the Bruins on the board.

Bergeron skated with the puck down the right wing boards as Pastrnak was streaking towards the net full tilt.  Bergeron sauced a beautiful pass to Pastrnak, who collected the puck and buried it five-hole on Braden Holtby.  Suddenly, the TD Garden crowd had some life to it.

That momentum didn’t see to go anywhere, as the Bruins continuously seemed to lose puck battles and give the Capitals chances to score on Rask.  The Caps took advantage of that face, and late in the 2nd period, Tom Wilson (yes, him again) tipped in a Brooks Orpik point shot.  The Capitals once again had a 2 goal lead headed into the 3rd period.

3rd period

The 3rd period found the Bruins having 4 power plays (1 double minor, 2 minor penalties).  And even though before tonight the power play had been clicking, it looked more like the 2011 Bruins power play tonight.  On the double minor after Pastrnak took an Orpik stick to the face, requiring some repairs, the Bruins were actually out-shot 3-2 by the Capitals.  That is unacceptable, and even head coach Bruce Cassidy admits it:

"“That was disappointing,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It was an opportunity to get back in the game. And eventually the power play did score to get us back in the game. But you’d like to see it a little bit earlier and a little bit smoother because it’s been a strength of our team. So absolutely we needed to be better there.”"

One of those Capitals shots was a shorthanded breakaway by none other than Tom Wilson, looking for the hat trick.  Luckily for the Bruins, Rask was once again up to the task, and stoned Wilson on the attempt.

The Bruins, on their 4th power play of the period, finally broke through again.  Pastrnak, in Tom Wilson fashion, put the puck in off Holtby from along the goal line.  With two and a half minutes left in the game, the lead was back down to 1, and Bruins Nation was feeling it.  However, even with the extra attacker, the Bruins were unable to score the equalizer, ending the game in a 3-2 loss.

Takeaways from the game

Tuukka Rask is an elite goalie.  This game easily could have been a 5 or 6 goal game by the Caps, but Rask held strong, including stopping two breakaways.  Wilson’s first goal is the only one I can really gripe about, because I hate when a goalie doesn’t seal the post.  But Ovechkin’s blast was poor defensive coverage, and Wilson’s second goal was a tipped puck that went bar down.  Can’t complain too much about those.

Next: Bruins prospects fail to impress

I imagine there’s going to be some travel between Providence and Boston this upcoming week.  Head coach Bruce Cassidy has shown no fear in the send-down and call-up process.  Perhaps that shuffling will continue until the team gets back to full strength and Krejci, Spooner, Backes, and Acciari return from injury.