Boston Bruins: Late Power Plays Boost Team Up in Standings

The Boston Bruins won a key game early Saturday afternoon, rallying for two power-play goals in the final 5:01 to beat the Washington Capitals 2-1 at the TD Banknorth Garden.

Zedno Chara and Marco Sturm scored the Bruins' goals, both coming on five-on-three man advantages, as the Capitals ran into penalty trouble in the final six-and-a-half minutes of the contest.

Donald Brashear got the equivalent of a triple-minor with 6:41 remaining, and the Capitals got two more penalties in a row in the ensuing minutes, and Boston capitalized.

Washington goaltender Cristobal Huet, who was acquired from the Canadiens at the trading deadline, appeared headed for his second shutout in three games with the Capitals—and fourth career goose-egg against Boston—before Chara's game-tying goal. Huet, who had said earlier that he had recovered from his back spasms, was 2-0-0 with a 1.20 GAA in a Caps uniform heading into the game.

The Bruins' victory avenged a 10-2 embarrassment at the hands of the same Capitals this past Monday, a loss which ended Boston's six-game winning streak and started an 0-2-1 slide.

Boston (36-25-7), who also lost 8-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs two nights earlier, started the day in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

The victory moves the Bruins to sixth place in the conference, tied with the idle New York Rangers with 79 points. The fading Ottawa Senators, now fallen to fifth, are only two points ahead of Boston.

The loss, on the other hand, is a huge blow for Washington, who was outshot 13-4 in the final period. The Capitals began the day five points back of the Carolina Hurricanes for first place in the Southeast Division and four points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the conference.

The Senators, Hurricanes, and Flyers played later on Saturday evening.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference, the Canadiens have a chance to regain the No. 1 seed with a victory and New Jersey loss on Saturday. Montreal took on the Los Angeles Kings in an early West Coast start in California, while the Devils played the Maple Leafs later in the evening.

The Devils began the day with 84 points, tops in the East, one point up on the Canadiens.

Even the Leafs, who started the day six points out of a playoff spot, are still in it, continuing their late-season march for the playoffs. Toronto, who has picked up at least a point in six of its last seven games, is 7-2-1 in its last ten games.

Ending the season on a hot streak is nothing new for the Maple Leafs.

Last season, the Leafs had also picked it up late in the season, before ultimately being eliminated from playoff contention on the last afternoon of the season when the Islanders picked up a shootout victory against the Devils.

The Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders, in the meantime, also are trying to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Sabres, who played the Hurricanes on Saturday evening, started the day three points out of a playoff spot; the Islanders, who took on the Flyers, began just five points back.

With only a dozen games remaining in the season for most teams (with no club having more than 14 contests left), each game (and loss) is key.

Teams can ill afford to blow third-period leads or run into penalty trouble at this time of the year—as Washington did.

Nor can they get blown out in multiple games and expect to gain momentum heading into the playoffs—as Boston did five days earlier.

Will the Capitals' loss make them lose ground in the standings--should the Flyers and Hurricanes win on Saturday?

Does the latest Bruins' victory help them recover from those embarrassing blow-out losses earlier in the week?

Will the Canadiens move into top spot in the East?

Will the Maple Leafs, Sabres, or Islanders keep their playoff hopes alive?

Only a few more weeks remain in the regular season; we'll know the answers pretty soon. Stay tuned!