Boston Bruins: 5 Things to Watch for in Game 2 vs. Washington Capitals

The Boston Bruins’ defense confined Alex Ovechkin to one shot on net and his entire line to four shots in the first game of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Forced to dip into their secondary scoring, the Washington Capitals mustered a mere 13 other vain bids at goaltender Tim Thomas.

Conversely, while their top six were rendered mute by Braden Holtby, the Bruins’ third line cracked the code in overtime, as Brian Rolston and Benoit Pouliot set up Chris Kelly for a winning rush.

With the 1-0 decision tucked in the books and a 1-0 Boston advantage at hand in the series, the remnants of Game 1 may now be converted to questions for Saturday’s Game 2 at TD Garden.

Based chiefly on Thursday’s key events (and nonevents), here are the Bruins’ primal pregame sidebars ahead of Saturday afternoon.

Immediate Energy

With the 3 p.m. faceoff slated for Game 2, the Zamboni in the dressing room simply cannot be ignored.

This year’s Bruins went 7-8-2 in regular-season games starting at or before 4 p.m. local time. Of those wins, many featured shaky starts against ostensibly weaker adversaries, including each of the last two Saturdays against Buffalo and the New York Islanders.

And this isn’t exactly new to 2011-12. Last year’s banner campaign saw Boston go a combined 5-6-0 in matinee matches between the regular season and postseason.

Can they find a cure and nudge closer to a stranglehold in the series?

Power Play

Beginning within the final two minutes of the first period and running through the latter phases of the middle frame, the Bruins had virtually four unanswered man-advantages, two of those coming in the form of a double-minor, in Game 1.

Any one of those segments could have been their chance to put this one away in regulation. Yet of the seven cumulative shots they landed on Holtby during the power play, all of two fell during that four-minute sentence to Jay Beagle, and none tuned the mesh.

A Troy Brouwer delay-of-game minor that came literally two seconds after Beagle’s release amounted to nothing, and a roughing infraction committed by Holtby himself at the 12:42 mark resulted in two bids.

When Marcus Johansson was through serving his goalie’s sin bin term, it took a stoppage and another 36 seconds for Boston to get to Holtby again, thus dissipating any momentum they may have sculpted in the preceding sequence.

Even if they do not convert when they get their chances on Saturday, the Bruins’ man-up strike force will want to cut back on the Capitals’ clearances. In addition, they could stand to be more assertive in continuing the flow of attack after Washington returns to even strength.

Brad Marchand

He cannot be expected to do it every night, but the second-year forward was one of only three Boston skaters not to register a single body-check in Game 1, opposite David Krejci and linemate Tyler Seguin.

Much of Marchand’s ice time coincided with that of Ovechkin Thursday night, and that trend will only change if he is removed from Patrice Bergeron’s line.

Recall that he landed 30 hits in 25 postseason games as a rookie, including seven in Game 3 of the Philadelphia series. At some point, Marchand ought to ultimately join Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg in the effort to inflict a few hindering bruises on the Capitals captain.

The Top Six

The four Washington blueliners primarily assigned to cover Bergeron and Krejci’s lines―Karl Alzner, John Carlston, Jeff Schultz and Dennis Wideman―threw a combined five hits in Game 1. Contrast that with the 10 checks dished up by Chara and Seidenberg alone against Ovechkin, Brouwer and Brooks Laich.

Washington’s most active hitters Thursday night were a pair of forwards in Ovechkin (seven) and Jason Chimera (five). Conversely, the Bruins had their top two blueliners along with Greg Zanon and Shawn Thornton, who threw five hits apiece to match the combined output of opposing defense’s top four.

Unless the Caps defenders step up their physicality and telepathic backchecking pressure, the Bruins should have roughly the same luck getting to Holtby in Game 2.

And with five, four and three Game 1 shots, respectively, the likes of Seguin, Rich Peverley and Bergeron should be especially hungry to show they have found a solution to the rookie netminder.

Adam McQuaid

Will he or won’t he be back this weekend? With McQuaid’s day-to-day status, that question continues to float in suspended gravity.

When and if he is ready to return, McQuaid ought to bring a welcome surplus of physical presence, as he will likely supplant Joe Corvo, the only Boston defenseman who did not chalk up multiple body-checks Thursday night.