Washington Capitals Breeze Past Boston Bruins With Wicked 3-1 Win

Last night at the Verizon Center, the Washington Capitals (16-10-3) defeated the Eastern Conference division-leading Boston Bruins 3-1.

It was a total team effort from start to finish.

Behind the dominating performance from part-time netminder Brent Johnson, the good guys in red unleashed the fury all game long.

Johnson made several spectacular stops, including one late in the first period that nearly sent him packing for the evening.

Immediately after gifted set up man Nicklas Backstrom netted his fourth goal in five games, Johnny made a kick save on Patrice Bergeron.

Then a split-second later, he turned away a rebound attempt from Chuck Kobasew.

He hung tough sore hip and all, and corralled 33 of 34 shots on goal from the NHL’s most prolific offensive enforcers.

“Killer B” has won three straight starts.

During this span, he has compiled a .952 save percentage, stopped 79 of 83 shots and has a fantastic 1.33 GAA.

Now that is what I am talking about son.

Overall his record for the 2008-2009 season is 8-4-2 with a .918 save percentage and a 2.47 GAA. 

Although no one would put Johnson in the Hockey Hall of Fame next to recent inductee Patrick Roy just yet, his outstanding play earned him the star of the game award.

He gets my vote for MVG!

Washington also welcomed back the services of two key players.

Alexander Semin had missed 12 of the Capitals’ previous games, due to a mysterious “upper body injury” that was later reported to be a back problem.

After rushing back too soon from injuries, Semin declared to the hockey honchos that he would not return to action until he was 100% healthy.

According to Senior Capitals Sports Writer Mike Vogel, Semin has lingering pain in the lower arch of his back.

Vogel warns Caps fans to be patient as this type of injury tends to be a chronic condition.

Be that as it may, Semin’s return lifted the team’s spirits, and he finished the night assisting on Alexander Ovechkin’s empty net tally to seal the victory.

That gives him 28 points in 17 games played.

Defenseman Tom Poti came out of the box with a vengeance, as he had missed the team’s last six games due to a pulled groin muscle.

He caught the watchful eye of Coach Bruce Boudreau who raved about Poti’s consistent presence on the blue line.

“As good as the guys in Hershey played,” said Boudreau. “I thought boy what a difference maker- coming out there, settling the puck down.  Sometimes not doing anything and letting everybody go by him and then making the good play. “I thought he was really good.”

Poti logged 22:01 in ice time to lead all defensemen.

Nicklas Backstrom, Alexandre Giroux, and Alexander Ovechkin scored goals for Washington, who improved to 11-1-1 at the phone booth.

As for Boston (19-5-5) their lone goal came late in the second period on a pretty pass form top scorer Phil Kessel (17 goals) to linemate Milan Lucic.

It was the 13th goal the Capitals have surrendered in the final minute of a period this season.

One mistake is acceptable against a team with Boston’s balanced scoring attack.

Usual netminder Tim Thomas had the night off, as Boston started Capitals nemesis Manny Fernandez.

That choice yielded the opposite intended result.

Fernandez performed admirably, but was no match for his counterpart Brent Johnson tonight.

He stopped 23 of 26 shots on goal respectively.

The Bruins goaltender entered the game with a career record of 2-0-1, a 1.27 GAA and .951 save percentage against Washington.

Make that 2-1-1 for those of you keeping track of such stats.

Notes:

The Capitals were granted their fourth penalty shot on the season during Wednesday’s game.

Alexandre Giroux almost slipped the biscuit past Manny Fernandez’s outstretched pads, but just missed when the puck rolled on him.

No other team has had more than two.

Michael Nylander is one for one, while “Ovie” has missed twice.

His last opportunity came in Sunday’s 3-1 loss against Carolina.

Forward Tomas Fleischmann sat out tonight’s game with a leg injury.

He was replaced in the lineup by Oskar Osala, who skated 11:15 in his NHL debut.