Causeway Crowd
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The Boston Bruins officially have a Braden Holtby problem

Jeremy Hynes|
BOSTON, MA - DECEMBER 14: Boston Bruins right wing Noel Acciari (55) beats Washington Capitals defenseman Christian Djoos (29) and tries the wrap around on Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby (70) during a game between the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals on December 14, 2017, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Capitals defeated the Bruins 5-3. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - DECEMBER 14: Boston Bruins right wing Noel Acciari (55) beats Washington Capitals defenseman Christian Djoos (29) and tries the wrap around on Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby (70) during a game between the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals on December 14, 2017, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Capitals defeated the Bruins 5-3. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Boston Bruins returned home looking to minimize the Capitals by riding the momentum from a big comeback divisional win less than 24 hours earlier.

There’s just something about the Washington Capitals that stumps the Boston Bruins.  The Bruins are now 0-9-2 in their last 11 games against Washington.  Washington is a good team and has been for years.  But the fact that in ELEVEN games the Bruins have only walked away with two points is concerning.  If the Bruins want to be a contender, there’s a decent chance the road to the Cup goes through Washington.  Something’s gotta give.

Period 1

The Bruins struggled to maintain possession and were chasing the game out of the gate. It looked like Lars Eller scored just 2:02 into the game, but the goal was called back due to the Caps going offside on the rush. The Bruins then proceeded to shoot themselves in the foot by taking three penalties, quashing any good momentum from the goal overturn call.

The Bruins managed to fight off the Caps’ powerplay all three times, but couldn’t contain Jakub Vrana at even strength when he dashed through the neutral zone splitting the Bruins’ defenseman and beating Anton Khudobin to put the Capitals on the board with 2:26 left in the first. The Capitals went into the dressing room with a 1-0 lead and the advantage in shots 13-11, but it should be noted they spent a quarter of the period on the powerplay.

Period 2

Bruce Cassidy surely demanded discipline and a tighter neutral zone at intermission. His message must have resonated as the Bs came out strong in the second and drew a penalty from Jakub Vrana. Patrice Bergeron buried a pass from Brad Marchand on the ensuing powerplay to pull the Bruins even 4:22 into the period.

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However, the Bruins’ defense began to loosen after the goal, which eventually led to them taking another penalty on a Capitals rush. The Caps finally capitalized on the powerplay when Nicklas Backstrom tapped in a layup at 7:55 of the second to make it 2-1.

The Bruins’ picked up their effort again after going down and generated good chances toward the end of the period. Brad Marchand started a scrap with Dimitry Orlov after taking abuse throughout the first two periods and a one on one battle quickly turned into a two on one when Tom Wilson jumped in and grabbed Marchand. Wilson’s involvement lead to a scary moment when he caused Marchand to trip backwards and hit his head against the boards. The refs decided that this was not worthy of an additional call, which will only lead to players like Marchand defending themselves further.

The Bs went to the room down a goal similar to the first intermission, but their play in the second was more encouraging as they heavily outshot the Caps 13-3 in the middle stanza bringing the shot totals to 24-16 Bruins.

Period 3

The Bruins continued their assault to start the third and created more chances, but weren’t able to finish. The Capitals finally put on some pressure after seven minutes of Bruins’ dominance and Alex Chiasson was the beneficiary of a good bounce that put the Caps up 2 with 12:08 remaining.

Then the Bruins received another opportunity to climb back into the game when Brooks Orpik took a penalty. However, Torey Krug drove a shot into Alex Chiasson who was directly in front of him and Chiasson took advantage of another gift by going in alone and putting the puck past Khudobin to make it 4-1 with 9:29 remaining. This is the story of Krug’s season so far.

The deflated Bruins showed a little life when Charlie McAvoy walked the blue line and fired a wrister that was tipped past Braden Holtby by David Krejci with 3:40 left in the game. The Bruins’ faint effort was fruitless, because Alex Ovechkin finally appeared in the game to score an empty net goal off the boards from deep in the Capitals’ zone with 1:29 remaining. With 26 seconds left, Bergeron put a shot past Holtby to make the score a true reflection of how close the game really was.

Final score: Capitals 5, Boston 3

Next: No trades for the Bruins, please

Key Takeaways

The Capitals finished their chances and the Bruins did not. The Bruins outshot the Capitals 37-22 and many of the Bs’ shots were quality chances, but they couldn’t find the back of the net. The Capitals’ offense is so lethal because they don’t need many opportunities to score. The Bruins have shown they are a good team as of late, but for them to compete with the best in the NHL, they need to bury more of their chances.

Braden Holtby continues to own the Bruins. Holtby was 12-2 against the Bruins coming into the game and remained true to his record with 34 saves on 37 shots. The Bruins showed Holtby many different looks but he was up to the test. He had luck on his side as the Bruins hit iron numerous times, but better lucky than good and Holtby was both in the game.

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