Boston Bruins Defeat the Washington Capitals: Extend Win Streak To 3

It's the Boston Bruins versus the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center.

The Capitals are riding a four-game win streak, and the Bruins are riding a two-game streak in their own win column.

Both teams lost their season opener and look to continue on their winning ways.  The loser of this game will carry losses as bookends.

First Period

Boston opened up the scoring in the first period with David Krejci's first goal for the season, getting the helper from new Bruin Nathan Horton.  That was Horton's sixth point in four games (three goals and three assists).  Horton went up the ice with the puck from center ice, and Krejci was skating up with him to receive the pass and send it past Capitals netminder Michal Neuvirth's low right side.

Less than three minutes later, Milan Lucic got his third of the season from a nice pass by Johnny Boychuk to make it 2-0 Boston. Boychuk was to the left and quickly passed to Lucic, who was crossing in front of Neuvirth and slipped the puck low right side.

Caps goalie Michal Neuvirth had to leave the game due to illness (flu-like symptoms) and Seymon Varlamov was placed in net.


Second Period

Washington got within a goal with a sloppy reverse by Matt Hunwick, which put the puck right in the sights of rookie Marcus Johansson, who subsequently netted his first career NHL goal on a quick release from Tim Thomas's front left.

Each team got a five-on-three power play, but no goals resulted from either side.

Third Period

The Bruins got one back and so did Hunwick, as his shot from the point which left Varlamov completely screened by Jordan Caron got in and the Bruins regained the two-goal lead.

The Capitals thought they got within a goal again, but the referee immediately waved it off as the replay clearly clearly showed two things: Alexander Ovechkin batted the puck in with his hand, and he didn't contest it.

With about 1:30 left, the Capitals net was empty, and the Bruins had a four-minute high-sticking double minor on Gregory Campbell, allowing Washington to load up six on four.

The Bruins held their ground with solid D and Thomas making a couple of great saves to notch the game for the B's third win in a row and end the Caps win streak at four games.

The difference-maker here was Tim Thomas, who has won his three starts this season and has played like he did back in the 2008-2009 season. Thomas has only two goals allowed on 108 shots in three games this season.

The next game is at the TD BankNorth Garden to complete the home-on-home series with the Capitals on Thursday, Oct. 21 at 7 pm EST.

This is Cory Ducey saying, "Hit Hard, But Keep It Clean."