3 Game 1 Takeaways From Bruins OT Loss to Washington

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There is still plenty of hockey left, but the Boston Bruins might look back at Saturday night’s Game 1 of their best-of-seven playoff series against the Washington Capitals as one that was a missed opportunity.

Nic Dowd redirected a TJ Oshie slap shot from the point 4:41 into the first sudden-death overtime past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask to give the Capitals a 1-0 series lead with a 3-2 victory. Boston twice trailed in the game and twice rallied to force overtime, but was unable to ever get the lead at any point in the game.

Here are three takeaways from a lost opportunity for the Black and Gold as they look to even the series in Game 2 Monday night.

1. Very physical game, but not unexpected.

As expected the Capitals set the tone in the first period with a very physical period, but Boston did not back down and returned the favor in the second period and was the more physical team.

The Capitals never missed an opportunity to take the body and they won’t as the season goes along. Will the Bruins be able to withstand the physicality of Washington for how many ever games this series goes?

It was good to see the Bruins not back down from the Caps, but if Washington continues to assert their physical presence, will the wear and tear of a schedule that is every other day affect Boston? We’ll see.

Washington finished with 51 hits in the game, compared to 41 for Boston. Game on!

May 15, 2021; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Capitals goaltender Vitek Vanecek (41) talks with Capitals trainer Jason Serbus (M) and Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) after being injured against the Boston Bruins) in the first period in game one of the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Bruins did not take advantage of Anderson.

Going into the series there were questions surrounding Washington’s goaltending situation. Vitek Vanecek started Game 1, his first career postseason start, while Ilya Samsonov had been on the league COVID-19 protocols list, but was taken off earlier Saturday.

With Samsonov unavailable, veteran Craig Anderson was Vanecek’s back up and he was forced to enter the game with 6:50 left in the first period when Vanecek was injured trying to make a save on Jake DeBrusk’s goal that tied the game. Vanecek left with a lower-body injury.

Unfortunately for the Bruins’ they did not take advantage of a goalie that had played in just four games all season for the Caps and was playing in the first playoff game since Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final in 2017 for the Ottawa Senators against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Anderson made 22 saves on 23 shots and allowed just a second-period power play goal to Nick Ritchie when the puck bounced off of Ritchie’s body and barely found its way over the goal line. Of his 22 saves, there were plenty of juice rebounds that Boston failed to capitalize on, and in the end, they failed to get enough shots on a goalie that had not seen a lot of rubber this season.

Chalk that up as a big missed opportunity.

May 15, 2021; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) stands on the ice during warmups prior to the Bruins’ game against the Washington Capitals in game one of the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

3. First-line struggles.

It’s no secret that as the first line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak goes, so do the Bruins. Saturday night was not their best game of the season.

The trio struggled not only offensively, but they struggled with the puck. Marchand seemed to be fighting the puck and Bergeron had the puck poked away from him multiple times.

Pastrnak did finish with six shots on the net, Marchand had one and Bergeron had zero. Actually, Bergeron attempted five shots but missed the net in each chance or had it blocked. At the faceoff dot, Bergy won 64% of his faceoffs, going 14-for-22, which ended up being his lone bright spot in the game.

It was not only on the first line that struggled but when the Black and Gold struggle, the first thing asked is, “How did the first line play?” Saturday night, it was not their best performance of the season and it came at the wrong time.

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The good thing is Game 2 is tomorrow night and the Bruins still have a chance to do what their goal was to do when the series began last night, get a split in the Nations Capital before returning home for Games 3 and 4. Expect the top-line to have a better game Monday night.

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