Something negative happened tonight to the Bruins that I'm pretty sure won't occur for the rest of the season. Boston (14-3-3) blew a 3-0 lead as they had a dream first period against Washington (9-11-1), then proceeded to fall apart until they lost 4-3 in overtime at the Verizon Center. Eric Fehr ended the misery only 37 seconds into the extra frame by splitting Dennis Seidenberg and Dougie Hamilton before he beat Tuukka Rask (22 saves; 11-2-3).
The incredible first period is what ultimately gave the B's a point and ensured that they still have yet to lose back-to-back games in regulation this season. Coming off the loss to Montreal on Sunday night, they didn't have any sort of hangover as they beat Braden Holtby (30 saves) three times in less than 19 minutes.
Brad Marchand scored on a penalty shot after Alex Ovechkin hooked him when Washington was on the power play at 6:29. It was Marchand's team-high 12th goal of the season and it was credited as a shorthanded goal for the top PK unit in the NHL. Zdeno Chara made it 2-0 at 17:07 after a nice pinch along the boards by him and assists from David Krejci and Milan Lucic. Big Z (who seems more active offensively this season) did the hard work by following his own shot for his fourth goal of the season.
Shawn Thornton and John Erskine fought two seconds after Chara's goal as Washington tried to gain some sort of positive momentum. That was Thornton's first bout since he was dropped by Buffalo goon John Scott. It didn't seem to help when Hamilton added a power play goal, his third goal of the season, at 18:30 from Nathan Horton and Krejci. Somehow the Caps lost him and Hamilton skated in on Holtby before firing a shot past him.
The Captials are desperate for any points that they can get and they played like it. The B's put it on cruise control way too early and paid dearly for it. Former Canadiens dirtbag (redundant I know) Mike Ribeiro got Washington on the board at 5:46 after great work from Ovechkin. Tomas Kundratek scored his first NHL goal when Rask couldn't catch a peek at his slow-motion wrist shot from the point.
It looked like the B's might escape with two points after they woke up a bit in the third but not adding an insurance goal came back to haunt them. Wojtek Wolski tied it at three with 6:05 left in regulation when he took advantage of a shot deflecting off Hamilton's legs right to him.
The things that people will point to as the main reasons the Bruins have lost the last two games: their third line has been horrid and most of their defensemen have been super shaky. Keep those observations in mind since the NHL trade deadline is less than a month away (April 3) in this bizarre season.
Boston returns home on Thursday (7 p.m., NESN) to face Toronto (14-9-0), a team that they have absolutely owned the last few seasons with Phil Kessel North of the border. The Bruins blanked the Leafs 1-0 on February 2 in Toronto. This will be the second of four meetings between the Original 6 and Northeast Division rivals.
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