After a sloppy game against Detroit, the Bruins were ready and determined not to lose twice in a row. Too many mistakes, efficient Caps and the inability to score on Braden Holtby the factors in their first back-to-back (regular season) loss since January this year.
The game started with Dennis Seidenberg's 3rd penalty in just 7 periods of hockey, he also got an early one against the Wings. Nevertheless B's were able to kill it against a strong Washington PP unit.
Seids was also the guy that created the first chance, big rebound from Holtby but Eriksson shots wide.
Bruins first PP of the game lead to 4 shots on net, the biggest chance probably a bomb from the blueline by Krug. John Carlson then came up with an awfull pass in their own zone, leading to one of last nights 3 big Holtby saves against Kelly.
Bobby Robins then proved why he shouldn't be an NHL forward, cheap hit against Niskanen which ends up in Michael Latta stepping in for his teammate. Robins looked like he didn't even have control over his body making that hit, ends up hitting Niskanen with an extended knee.
This was his first shift 9 minutes into the game (Paille and Cunningham had ice time at this point) and it ends up with Alex Ovechkin scoring a powerplay goal to give Caps a rather undeserved 1-0 lead.
What that terrible hit also created ? Momentum for the Caps who were basically focused on defending before Ovechkin opened up the scoring. Backstrom wins a board battle against Zdeno Chara, feeds the pass to Ovechkin between 3 Bruins (McQuaid, Bergeron, Smith) and it's 2-0 Capitals late in the first.
The Caps had 5 giveaways (Boston none) in the first period, but the Bruins didn't know how to punish them. That stat would change as the B's finished the game with unbelievable 12 to 9 giveaways.
At the start of the 2nd period, Holtby fails to shoot the puck out of the zone, which lead to a chance by Craig Cunningham. With more and more shots beeing saved by Holtby, Chara takes a bad penalty against Burakovsky for another Caps PP.
Burakovsky ends up with too much space on the right (Seidenberg loses him), get's the cross-crease between Kelly and Eriksson and Mike Green makes it 3-0 with a beautiful one-timer.
Bruins with a powerplay of their own as Söderberg draws an interference call on Orpik.
The powerplay ended beeing a perfect display of what is wrong with the team right now. Lucic goes offside twice, Smith backhands the puck out of the attacking zone, just to name a few.
What follows is the best scene by the 4th line all night, Cunningham with a big hit on Schmidt behind the Caps goal, feeding Bobby Robins for a blocked shot.
A holding call on Jason Chimera late in the period gave the B's some hope towards the 3rd.
But hopes were dashed as with only a single shot on net, making it a 0/4 PP night for the Bruins.
Coach Claude Julien changed the lines to start the 3rd, putting Spooner on the wing with Söderberg and Lucic on a line centered by Kelly.
The play didn't change ... Capitals defense with another turnover, but Holtby strong against Söderberg. Marchand and Seidenberg with somewhat the Bruins final attempts to score a goal before the gremlin hits the team.
Miller with a huge mistake infront of Rask, Spooner with a turnover in the neutral zone and Bruins under pressure for minutes. Greene with a big hit on Lucic, who wants some revenge of his own but instead ends up with 2 minutes for cross-checking and a 10 minute missconduct.
Burakovsky crowns his big night with setting up John Carlson for a one-timer that hits Joel Ward infront of Rask, to make it a 4-0 Caps with just over a minute left.
Noticeable facts:
- Chris Kelly with 3 good shots on Holtby (team leading with Bergeron and Spooner), also leading the team in hits with 4, including a big one on Ovechkin in the 2nd period. One of the few that showed huge effort through all 3 periods.
- The Swedes chemistry is one of the few things that stood out through all 3 games so far. Eriksson on the ice for 18 shot attempts (only 1 against), leading the forward group in icetime with 18:15.
Söderberg with 2 big chances and on the ice for a corsi of +15.
- Milan Lucic was sent down to the ice two times in the first 10 minutes. Set up a missed shot by McQuaid in the first period which was his best scene all game. Did not turn thetoric into action, after admitting that he played awfull in the two previous games. Couldn't take it as Greene sent him down again, ending his night with a 10 minute missconduct.
- The defense as a whole: Julien started with Chara - McQuaid and Seidenberg - Hamilton because that looked good (for a period) in game 1. McQuaid has still to prove that he can play top 4, didn't show that against Detroit or last night. Seidenberg with another penalty to start the game, lost Burakovsky at the boards (3-0 Caps). Sure the rest of the D didn't look much better either.
- Matt Fraser with 2 giveaways and no shots on net. Got less icetime than Paille and Cunningham, continuing to disprove his good pre-season looks. Ryan Spooner with a slightly better game than the ones before, put on the wing for the 3rd period.
- Bobby Robins with a beer league play on Matt Niskanen. Didn't look as if he would know what he's doing, sending the Bruins to a PK on which Ovechkin scores. His penalty killed the B's momentum, ending in another Ovechkin goal just minutes later. A single hit and 1 giveaway with only 7:59 of icetime add to the fact that he shouldn't be playing on this team.
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