NHL Playoffs: 5 Players to Watch in Game 3 for the Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins spilled home-ice advantage in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with Saturday’s overtime falter in Game 2.

The opposing Washington Capitals now have the presumptive upper hand, especially with the last change now figuring to give top gun Alexander Ovechkin more shifts with Bruins defensemen Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg off duty.

Suddenly less able to bank on that preferred matchup, Boston will need its other defensemen and its last line of defense to be that much sharper. The Bruins are also still waiting for a multitude of key forwards to start making ripples in the series.

The five key figures garnering the bulk of the pregame spotlight ahead of Monday’s tilt at the Verizon Center are as follows.

Tim Thomas

This will be the Bruins’ first of two consecutive games and four consecutive days spent in the nation’s capital, where Thomas made headlines that one could have only missed by being stranded in the Antarctic for the last three months.

His more recent history of deflecting non-hockey media inquiries should indicate that he will not let his politics become a distraction in the dressing room. And even though he has less control over the spectators, the Capitals’ crowd ought not to bother him either.

The real question is this: Can Thomas repeat his history of thriving in big games when outside disturbances attempt to antagonize him?

He may need to, especially if Chara and Seidenberg are not out there to restrain Ovechkin.

Johnny Boychuk

With a cumulative five hits in the series and a team-leading three blocked shots in each of the first two games―hardly a deviation from his regular season―Boychuk may be the Bruins’ most favorable alternative to cover Ovechkin.

Look for head coach Claude Julien to try distributing the defensive minutes in roughly the same proportions as Game 2 with the Boychuk-Andrew Ference unit immediately trailing that of Chara and Seidenberg.

Rich Peverley

Only twice since November has the versatile forward gone three consecutive games without any production. After going pointless in Games 1 and 2, along with the rest of his top-six strikers, Peverley will try to avert a three-game hex to start the postseason.

Patrice Bergeron

Like Peverley, Bergeron has generally not been given to cold streaks lasting more than two games this season. If the Capitals keep him off of Monday night’s scoresheet, it will tie his season-high three-game pointless skid previously set between Jan. 17 and Jan. 21 and again from March 11 to March 15.

So far in this series, Bergeron has outclassed all teammates and opponents at the faceoff dot, but he and his two sophomore linemates have little to show for it.

And, as it happens, Bergeron and Peverley have each accumulated seven shots on Braden Holtby, trailing only Tyler Seguin for the team lead in the series.

Tyler Seguin

Continuing off the last point in the previous slide, Seguin is still searching for that follow-up on his breakout regular season. In addition, his playoff proficiency has been missing ever since his four-point fireworks display versus Tampa Bay last May 17.

So long as Bergeron keeps winning his draws, the likes of Seguin and Brad Marchand could stand to translate their gratitude into a little more productive puck possession.