NHL: Washington Capitals Defeat Boston Bruins 5-3 Despite Late Surge

At the Verizon Center in Washington D.C., the Boston Bruins were going in 2-0-0 against the Washington Capitals and riding a three-game win streak and hoped to continue their success against the Capitals.

The Capitals hoped to get a win against a hot Bruins squad, and they didn't disappoint the Sea of Red.

First Period

There was no scoring in the opening.

Second Period

It didn't take long for Washington to get to Tim Thomas in the second period.  Just 59 seconds in, Tyler Sloan received a pass from the left faceoff circle to rip one from the point and beat Thomas.  1-0 Capitals.

At the 7:35 mark, a late pinching Mike Green got a cross ice pass from Alex Ovechkin who was occupied by a couple of Bruins.  Green had plenty of time to snap it top glove-side.  2-0 Capitals.

The Caps weren't done.  Just over 10 minutes later, Alexandar Semin got a shorthanded goal when the Bruins were on the power play, Semin fought off a flat-footed Patrice Bergeron to go up the ice and leave Zdeno Chara with three Capitals players to contend with on his own.

With Semin, Brook Laich and Green going up the ice, Chara had to make a gamble as to what was going to happen, but he lost.  Green came pinching in the backside, Semin passed it to Green, who quickly one-timed it back to Semin, and he made a great wrist shot to make it count.  3-0 Capitals.

This is the second game of the season, and in as many games so far, that multiple goals were scored on Thomas.  With three goals on 25 shots, the Bruins were allowing too many shots on Thomas considering this was only 40 minutes of play.  Washington has been known to shoot the puck relentlessly at their opponents.

At the end of the period, Thomas was given his marching orders, and Tuukka Rask was called upon to take the net.

Rask has been given a bad deal in terms of the team's play in front of him, and there were some goals that were scored that probably wouldn't happen in his career, but he was standing with no wins in the two games he had played.

Final Frame

The third period proved to be interesting.  Just 3:07 into the period, Michael Ryder scored on the power play.  Tyler Seguin was in the zone trying to pass it to Mark Recchi, but Recchi was tied up and the puck looked like it was going to clear, but Dennis Seidenburg stepped in to fire a slap shot at the net.  The puck was stopped by Capitals goalie Michal Neuvirth, but Ryder was front left of him to get it to count.  3-1 Capitals.

Just 55 seconds later, the Bruins were on another power play, and Nathan Horton shot a bullet from the right point to get them within one goal.  3-2 Capitals.

Near the halfway mark of the period, Brad Marchand got the puck cleared and passed it to a streaking...Shawn Thornton??

Thornton went up the ice with Seguin for a two-on-one.  Thornton looked like he was thinking about passing to Seguin but decided to backhand it high past Neuvirth to tie the game.

Washington coach Bruce Boudreau saw enough of the young backstop and pulled Neuvirth to replace him with rookie Branden Holtby.  This was the young 21-year old's first taste of regular season NHL play, and he just needed to stop four shots to keep the Bruins at bay. 

The surge was not enough for the Bruins.  John Carlson got the puck off a faceoff and quickly buried a slap shot past Rask.  4-3 Capitals.

With Rask out of the net late in the game, the Bruins tried to make a final push to get the game into overtime, but the speedy Capitals had other plans.

It took the Capitals three shots at the open net before Alexander Ovechkin finally buried it to put the game out of reach with just 52 seconds left to play.

Final Score:  Capitals 5, Bruins 3

Post Game

With the loss, Thomas maintained his win streak.  Despite Rask's solid play, stopping 12-of-13 shots and keeping the Bruins in it to tie the game, the winning goal was scored on his watch so the loss went to him.  Not exactly agreeing with it but, "them's the rules."

Both teams didn't play a complete game, but Washington played a MORE complete game than the Bruins.

What Worked for the Capitals

A heck of a lot of hustle, and they got the shots on net.  Pure and simple.  The Bruins were badly out-shot 39-18.  Washington did not want to go down 0-3-0 against the Bruins, and they showed it.  They outplayed the Bruins and deserved the win.

What Didn't Work for the Bruins

They did not get enough traffic in front of Neuvirth as they did in previous games with Semyon Varlamov and Neuvirth.  They could not contain the Capitals intensity, and they were not collapsing on the net like they were usually doing, giving the Capitals plenty of shots on goal.

The next game is in Boston against the St Louis Blues and a red hot Jaroslov Halak having a record of 7-1-1.  The Blues are on a tear with a five-game win streak on the line.  With the Bruins fresh off a game and having to travel back home, it will be interesting to see if fatigue will be a factor, or will they take this loss and try to end the impressive Blues streak.