The post-contention, injury-riddled Washington Capitals are in Boston to meet the Bruins in a 3:30 matinee on ABC (and espn+) and on radio on 98.5 The Sports Hub.
Alex Ovechkin, without Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeni Kuznetsov, is grinding through the worst season of his 19-year NHL career.
Tom Wilson and TJ Oshie are playing, so anything is possible.
The Caps, who are trying to stay positive as they meander on the wrong side of the playoff bubble, are doing like the 1980s Islanders and letting their championship roster age in place.
As a result, the playoffs are a long shot, as the aging core cannot, has not, stayed healthy or available (Kuznetsov in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program).
One player wearing the trade-deadline bullseye is Anthony Mantha. The 29-year-old winger has 16 goals this season and no contract for next season. Former Bruin/Cap Alan May suggested Nic Dowd as a veteran fourth-line center who might interest the Bruins, who have little in the way of draft capital to spend at the trade deadline. BTW, the Caps own Boston’s third-round pick this summer and the Bruins’ second-round pick in 2025.
A-I image by Daryl Vautour
For the Bruins, winger Anthony Richard has been recalled and will replace Oskar Steen in today’s lineup. Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said during his pregame media scrum that Richard’s job is to use his speed on the forecheck to create anxiety for Washington’s defensemen on puck retrievals.
FIRST PERIOD
All Washington early – this was the fear coming down from Thursday’s statement against Vancouver – and only Jeremy Swayman is keeping the Bruins in the game. But now the Capitals go on the powerplay at 7:49 after Hampus Lindholm was called for holding behind the Boston net.
Shots 6-0 Caps before the powerplay, and most of them were quality.
Charlie Coyle legged out another partial breakaway short-handed, but his pass to Pavel Zacha for an open-side finish was a little hard and slightly off the mark.
Richard gets Boston’s first shot of the game at the 11:23 mark on Charlie Lindgren, a backhand from the slot from Charlie McAvoy. Washington had the game’s first eight shots on net.
Moments earlier at the Boston end of the rink, Richard did something Zdeno Chara once did. He checked Max Pacioretty into the boards.
McAvoy lands Boston’s second shot of the game, a hard slapper from the point blocked by Lindgren with 5:07 remaining in the first period.
Ovechkin gets something he doesn’t get a lot of his in ongoing chase of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time, career goals record, and that’s a Grade A. Swayman snuffed it out.
The Bruins are in the game now but still aren’t defending as well as they can.
More pressure from the Caps after the TV timeout, and Tom Wilson wipes out Parker Wotherspoon on the bench-side halfwall. The left-shot defenseman, playing right-side today in a pairing with Derek Forbort, gave Wilson a little tug on the next skate-by.
Pacioretty ran over Matt Grzelcyk behind the net, and when the players re-engaged in the slot, Grzelcyk got his stick into Pacioretty’s groin, causing injury with 1:47 left in the period. After a review, Grzelcyk was booted with a major for spearing and a game misconduct.
Caps to a powerplay that will continue 3:13 into the second period, regardless of goals scored.
DeBrusk tested Lindgren with a screen shot through John Carlson.
Wilson cuts across the slot and misses the net.
Shots after one period: 14-4 Caps.
SECOND PERIOD
3:13 of PP time left on the Grzelcyk PIM.
Pacioretty is on the Caps PP so probably safe to rule out discipline for Grzelcyk,
Oshie scores from the slot at 1:05 and with 2:08 remaining on Grzelcyk’s major. 1-0 Capitals.
Danton Heinen and Jakub Lauko finish the kill with a long pass play that Ovechkin backchecked to shut down, but the Bruins pressured in the ensuing action and seem to have upped their urgency.
Mantha snuck the puck away from Wotherspoon and wound up with a backhand from the slot that Swayman stopped, and a rebound went wide.
Bruins with more pressure, and it leverages a slashing penalty on Oshie at 6:19. Bruins to the powerplay for the first time.
Game shots are 17-4 Washington.
Not a lot for Boston on the powerplay (thanks, Scotty Allen!), and the Bruins turn the puck over to Dowd, who hits Oshie out of the box. Oshie fires wide under Wotherspoon’s cross-ice pressure from the opposite side.
Wilson strips Lauko at the Washington line and has a shot going the other way, but McAvoy tips it into the netting above the end glass.
Fans are getting restless as the Bruins gain chances but not shots. In the case of this flurry of activity, the shots simply weren’t there. Credit the Capitals.
Pastrnak lands Boston’s sixth shot of the game on Lindgren with 7:53 remaining in the second period. The Caps have 20 on Swayman.
Ovechkin finds a loose puck in the slot but moves it across, perhaps anticipated disruption on a shot attempt. Had he been playing for Boston at that moment, the place would have been screaming at him.
Same shift, Dylan Strome looks off Ovechkin 2-on-1 and shoots, Swayman makes the save. 23-6 in shots, still 1-0 under 3 minutes to go in the 2nd.
As the Bruins forwards fly the zone and look to break open an odd-man rush, the pucks stay in the D-zone and the boos rain down from the TD Garden balcony.
Marchand gets the puck to the Washington end and pushes on defenseman Martin Fehervary. The crowd cheers on Marchand.
Pastrnak has the puck off wing but forces a pass through the middle that gets knocked away.
Second period ends 1-0 for Caps. Shots after two: 23-8 Washington.
THIRD PERIOD
Good news: Bruins land the first shot of the period, as Coyle tips McAvoy’s point shot onto Lindgren.
Bad news: Caps come right back with a 2-on-1 and Strome converts to make it 2-0 3:24 into the period.
Montgomery did some switching up of the lines and pairings, as McAvoy started the period with Wotherspoon, and Heinen skated with Coyle and Marchand.
Trent Frederic held onto the puck in the RW corner, and the Bruins cycled until DeBrusk centered. Frederic got a whack at it but the Caps boxed out well.
Swayman, meanwhile, had to get his stick arm on a blazing shot from the top of the right circle to keep it a two-goal game.
Pacioretty in the penalty box, and the Bruins are moving the puck with more urgency on the PP.
Every puck lost and the balcony boos have that tone of resignation.
Ovechkin’s floater nearly eludes Swayman as Strome follows hard to the net.
Carlson to the box with 7:25. Last gasp for the Bruins…
Connor McMichael with a hurried, short-handed breakaway. Swayman stops it.
Best chance of the penalty.
Today, it would seem the Bruins dug themselves too deep a hole in terms of the playing of this hockey game, and while the score was rarely more than one shot away from even – with 4:49 left it still could happen – but this seems like the game the Bruins could tie and still lose. They simply don’t want this one as badly as the Capitals.
Guys in the road whites are playing for careers some of them, and they are all elevating the way the Bruins did on Thursday. The Bruins are trying to manufacture everything the Capitals are doing better than them on the premise that one lucky bounce might let the air out of Washington’s balloon and bring them down 15 notches.
But the Bruins are a day late today, a dollar short, and are chasing the compete level of the Caps all afternoon.
We’re down to 3:19 and, while anything can happen, it’s not a good sign that the Bruins are in this position for the second time in five days, wrapped around one of their harder efforts of the year.
The played the Vancouver game with passion, they’re playing this one like a job.
Ovechkin to the penalty box with 2:56 remaining.
Is this the last gasp?
Does it matter? They don’t deserve the points today, and it might be bad for them to get anything out of this one.
Swayman to the bench with 2 minutes left.
There haven’t been too many thrills this season for Spencer Carberry and New Bedford, Mass. local Scotty Allen.
They get one today, as Ovechkin buries the ENG with 26.3.
Caps are going to win this game, 3-0.
Drive safely and boo with passion.
Rink Rap with Mick Colageo 