Bruins at Capitals 2/1/21: Rematch preview, lineups, and more

The Boston Bruins go up against the Washington Capitals once again tonight after taking a hard-swallowed 4-3 overtime loss in their last matchup just two days ago.

After an up and down January, the B’s will be facing the same team to start February who they finished January playing, the Caps. Recently, the Black and Gold have had a tough time against Washington, but last game’s effort showed they are trying to turn this trend around.

While the score showed a 4-3 overtime loss for Boston, this was not an accurate representation of how the B”s played. Boston dominated the Caps for most of the game but couldn’t finish key scoring opportunities early in the game, while Washington took what they could get (a screened Rask, lucky bounces, and bad defensive positioning).

Because of their bad luck, the B’s saw themselves in a 3-0 hole in the second period. However, they cut this deficit down to two going into the third period and ultimately tied the game at three by the end of regulation. While the loss in overtime is hard to swallow, it was truly a gutsy effort to come back from 3-0.

The Black and Gold will look to give the same effort they did last game tonight, but score early and often so they don’t find themselves in another hole.

Boston Bruins at Washington Capitals projected lineups.

Boston Bruins
Record: 5-1-2 (12 points)

The Black and Gold will be going into this game more banged up than last. Center Charlie Coyle suffered an upper-body injury last game and didn’t practice yesterday. He’ll most likely be a game-time decision.

Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk and forwards, Jack Studnicka, Ondrej Kase, and Jake DeBrusk all didn’t make the trip with Boston, so they’ll still be out tonight. That means we’ll probably see some more of Karson Kuhlman.

Expect the Bruins’ forwards to look like this tonight if Coyle does play:

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Ritchie – Krejci – Kuhlman
Frederic – Coyle – Smith
Bjork – Kuraly – Wagner

If Coyle doesn’t play:

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Ritchie – Krejci – Smith
Bjork – Kuraly – Kuhlman
Frederic – Lindholm – Wagner

Expect the Bruins’ defense and goaltending to look like this tonight:

Lauzon – McAvoy
Clifton – Carlo
Zboril – Miller

Halak (Rask)

Jaroslav Halak will most likely get the nod tonight as head coach Bruce Cassidy continues his goalie rotation.

Washington Capitals
Record: 6-0-3 (15 points)

The Caps will be putting out a similar lineup to last game. Center Evgeny Kuznetsov and goalie Ilya Samsonov are still out due to COVID protocol, however, Dmitry Orlov was activated before last game but didn’t play. He has a chance to suit up tonight but I’ll say he doesn’t play again.

Expect the Capitals to look like this tonight:

Vrana – Backstrom – Wilson
Ovechkin – Oshie – Panik
Hagelin – Dowd – Hathaway
Sheary – Sgarbossa – Sprong

Chara – Carlson
Dillon – van Riemsdyk
Sieganthaler – Jenson

Vanecek (Anderson)

Where and when to watch Boston Bruins at Washington Capitals:

Time: 7 PM EST

Location: Capital One Arena

TV Broadcast: NESN, NBCWA, SN1, TVAS, SNE, SNO

Radio Broadcast: 98.5 The Sports Hub

By getting to overtime and ultimately winning, the Caps are still undefeated in regulation. The B’s will once again look to end this streak as well as end the five-game win streak of first place Washington, as well as start their own new win streak after having their four-game streak ended last matchup.