Bruins Answer The Bell, Solve Holtby In 4-3 Thriller

Three games into the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Boston Bruins finally proved that Capitals rookie goaltender Braden Holtby isn't the second-coming of Patrick Roy. Not yet at least.

Tonight at Verizon Center, Boston beat Washington 4-3 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead. After scoring two goals combined in the first two games, the B's were able to get traffic in front of Holtby (25 saves), roll four lines (that all had tangible contributions) and grab their first lead(s) of the series.

For the third consecutive game, this one looked to be headed for overtime but Bruins captain Zdeno Chara saved Boston from that dicey scenario with a clutch goal at 18:07 in the third period. Patrice Bergeron and Dennis Seidenberg assisted on Chara's first of the playoffs, a one-timer that was a low missile that Holtby could not stop.

Washington scored the first goal but Boston was able to rally twice (down 1-0 and 2-1) to tie it and eventually take a 3-2 lead. The Capitals scored with six minutes left in regulation, a backbreaking goal on a truly putrid defensive breakdown by the B's.

Alexander Semin (1st of the playoffs) scored a power-play goal with four minutes left in the first period. His screened wrist shot found its way past Tim Thomas (29 saves) with assists from Brooks Laich and Alex Ovechkin.

After a slow first period, the Bruins woke up early in the second as Rich Peverley (1st of the playoffs) squeezed one past Holtby 35 seconds in. It was a save that the rookie should have made, the first semi-soft one he's allowed thus far. Nevertheless, a first line forward for Boston finally produced a goal. Chara and Andrew Ference had the helpers.

Before I could even tweet about that goal, Washington scored 13 seconds later. Laich's flip/dump pass found Ovechkin and his shot was deflected by Seidenberg past Thomas. Ovie's first of the playoffs was also assisted by Roman Hamrlik.

Daniel Paille (1st of the [playoffs) made sure Boston wouldn't face another deficit after two periods. He scored on a rebound at 9:38 with assists to Greg Zanon and Gregory Campbell.

A good sign for Boston is that they had jump to start the third and scored an early goal, again. Brian Rolston (1st of the playoffs) scored on another juicy rebound by Holtby. Funny how average a goaltender can look when you get some bodies in his field of vision and don't settle for 50-foot shots. Chris Kelly and Chara assisted on Rolston's first playoff goal for Boston since 2004.

Laich (1st of the playoffs) tied it at 3 after a home-run pass from Nicklas Backstrom found him alone by the Boston bench. He skated in on Thomas and roofed a forehand shot. Mike Green had the second assist.

Game 4 is on Thursday night in D.C. so these teams will have an extra day off to let the hatred build. I didn't think the Capitals had it in them but I guess their head coach Dale Hunter has brainwashed them into taking cheapshots (Examples: Jason Chimera spearing Brad Marchand in the balls and Backstrom picking up a 10-minute match penalty at the final whistle). By the rulebook, Backstrom will miss Game 4 but Hunter said in his postgame comments that he thinks the NHL will rescind it. We shall see about that. Oh and Karl Alzner (who?) made fun of Milan Lucic by making a crybaby hand gesture after a scrum. Haha have fun dealing with that crazy Karl.

There's a big difference between being up 3-1 in a series or tied 2-2 so I have faith that the Bruins will be focused and as a result, they'll play well. Please for the love of God, can they score a power play goal? They were 0 for 5 this evening which makes them 0 for 11 in the playoffs.

UPDATE 4/17: Backstrom had his disciplinary hearing today and his suspension is upheld, he will miss Game 4 on Thursday for his cross-check of Rich Peverley at the end of Game 3. Huge loss for the Caps and a really dumb play by him.

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Capitals Earn Two Points The Hard Way

If you fell asleep or passed out for the first 2+ periods of tonight's Boston Bruins-Washington Capitals game, you're in luck if you woke up in the third period.

That's when the action really picked up as a scoreless game became 2-2 in a span of less than 11 minutes. Boston (45-28-4) rallied from a 2-0 deficit that looked fatal but Washington (39-31-8) held on in overtime and won 3-2 in a shootout at TD Garden.

Matt Hendricks, Alexander Semin and Brooks Laich (game-winner) scored in the shootout for the Capitals while Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron had the Bruins goals.

Boston picked up a point but their three-game winning streak was snapped just the same. Washington ended the season series 3-1 against Boston, something which should give them confidence should these teams meet in the postseason (a first-round date is certainly possible).

Believe me when I tell you that nothing happened in the first two periods save for Adam McQuaid getting hurt (concussion?) on Jason Chimera's charging penalty in the first (14 strides!) and Caps goaltender Tomas Vokoun left with an injury (groin?) of his own.

Boston was also missing Dennis Seidenberg who was out with an infection from a cut on his leg.

Chimera got a 5-minute major and a game misconduct but the B's weren't able to take advantage of the extended power-play opportunity.

Two mistakes by Boston led to both Washington goals in the third. At 7:59, former Bruin Dennis Wideman (11th of the season) was allowed to slip into the offensive zone and he wristed a shot by Tim Thomas (21 saves; 33-20-0). Marcus Johansson and Alex Ovechin assisted on the goal.

Just 1:55 later, the Capitals seemed to put this one away and get back into eighth place in the Eastern Conference thanks to a 2-on-1 finish by Johansson (14th of the season) from Ovechkin.

The Bruins beat the Capitals by one second as they scored a pair of goals in 1:54. David Krejci (21st of the season) was the first to solve Michal Neuvirth (19 saves) as he redirected Zdeno Chara's shot at 16:50. Milan Lucic had the second assist.

Andrew Ference (6th of the season) tied it at 2 with a slap shot at 18:44. Krejci had the lone assist on the rare Ference goal.

Chris Kelly forced a solid stop by Neuvirth shortly after Ference's strike. Boston had all the momentum going into overtime but they weren't able to score in the extra frame.

Boston will get a full dose of New York this weekend as they travel to Long Island on Saturday to meet the Islanders then they face the Rangers at MSG on Sunday night.

Surprisingly, the Bruins are 1-1 against the Islanders with New York winning 3-2 on March 3 at the Garden. They haven't given up on this season either (even though they aren't going anywhere). The Islanders beat the Penguins 5-3 both nights of a home-and-home this week. Expect Marty Turco to get a start this weekend, more likely Saturday.

UPDATE 3/30: McQuaid didn't make the trip to New York so he's out for this weekend's games. Seidenberg is day-to-day meaning that he could potentially play.

UPDATE 3/31: With Buffalo's loss to Pittsburgh tonight, the Bruins clinched a playoff spot for the fifth straight season under Claude Julien. He has never missed the postseason in Boston.

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Capitals Prevent The Bruins From Winning Three In A Row

Facing a team desperate for points as they try to make the playoffs in a Saturday afternoon contest-something the Bruins always struggle in-Boston lost 4-3 to the Washington Capitals today at TD Garden.

The loss ended Boston's modest two-game win streak which was the longest one they had built in two months.

The B's (40-24-3) outplayed the Capitals (34-28-6) for long stretches but that doesn't really matter since they handed Washington a 2-0 lead right out of the gate and later a 4-2 advantage just for shits and giggles. Boston rallied the first time but you'll pretty much never win playing that style so they couldn't do it again.

Alexander Semin (18th of the season) and Matt Hendricks (4th of the season) scored 25 seconds apart, at 7:50 and 8:15 of the first period which caused Bruins head coach Claude Julien to burn his timeout. Semin's goal was Tim Thomas' (26 saves; 26-16-0) fault since Thomas kicked Karl Alzner's shot right to Semin rather than the corner. Boston's defense was the culprit for Hendricks' tally since they let him bust through and stuff in another rebound-from Troy Brouwer's shot.

Momentum shifted as Milan Lucic (23rd of the season) scored with six seconds left in the first period. He seemed to have caught Caps goaltender Tomas Vokoun (30 saves) by surprise as the not very powerful shot slipped between his pads. Patrice Bergeron had the assist.

Brad Marchand (23rd of the season) tied it at two just 4:58 into the second period. He corralled a loose puck and skated in alone on Vokoun before sliding it past him.

Penalties killed the Bruins as they took three in the second period alone. They were able to kill the first two but in between those Jay Beagle (2nd of the season) was able to wrist one by Thomas. That occurred in what NESN's Jack Edwards refers to as the "Vulnerable Minute," the minute after a power play ends. The third penalty was a bogus roughing call on Greg Zanon and to make matters worse, Washington scored on it thanks to a Brooks Laich (13th of the season) tip in. Former Bruin Dennis Wideman and Alexander Ovechkin assisted.

The Bruins absolutely dominated in the third, outshooting the Capitals 13-2, but they could only muster one goal. Johnny Boychuk (5th of the season) roofed a rebound at 16:47 from Marchand and Jordan Caron.

Boston travels to Pittsburgh tomorrow afternoon for a tough back-to-back. Let me say that I want to see Marty Turco make his Bruins debut, mostly because Thomas seems dead energy-wise and who can blame him? They picked up Turco so they might as well use him, why not tomorrow? Particularly since it's a back-to-back, on the road, early start and even because the clocks get set an hour later.

The Penguins are 1-1 against the Bruins so far this season, with their last meeting a 2-1 win in Boston on February 4. Pittsburgh always seems to improve as the season goes along-a sign of a great team-and this one is no different. They've won eight straight games including two by a goal and two shootout victories.

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Oh Dennis Wideman, you rascal

Even when he does good things like scoring a goal, Dennis Wideman still finds a way to trump that with an awful mistake.

It's kind of remarkable in a Rain Man type of way. Last night at the Verizon Center in DC, the Capitals won 3-2 in overtime over the Bruins thanks in large part to Wideman's high-sticking penalty 24 seconds into OT.

There's only three games left in the regular season so sadly last night's one point for the B's was vitally important. They're currently in seventh with 85 points, one point behind sixth-place Montreal and one ahead of eighth-place Philly.

From there, it took only twenty seconds for the Caps (52-15-12) to cash in as Alexander Semin's shot hit a wide open Brooks Laich in front of Boston's (36-30-13) net. Laich had enough time to settle the bouncing puck and pop it by B's goalie Tuukka Rask (27 seconds).

Just because the Bruins should have won this game doesn't make me feel any better about the beatdown they'll get from Washington should they meet in the playoffs.

Nicklas Backstrom gave Washington a 1-0 lead 7:36 into the first period from Alex Ovechkin and Mike Knuble.

Wideman tied it up with two seconds left in the first period with a screened blast from the point. Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron assisted.

Bergeron gave Boston a short-lived 2-1 lead in the second period with a pretty deke of Jose Theodore (28 saves). Milan Lucic and Mark Recchi assisted.

Knuble, the former Bruins great (or something like that) tied it with 29 seconds left in the second period. Ovechkin and Backstrom assisted on the goal.

Boston hosts Buffalo on Thursday night in what seems like the 20th meeting with the Sabres in the last month.

Opening Night Flop

When the Bruins Stanley Cup champions DVD comes out next June, it's doubtful that it will feature any footage from last night's pathetic Opening Night.

Two-time MVP Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals came in and thoroughly dominated the Bruins 4-1 before a sold-out TD Garden (yes the fucking name changed for the 100th time in the last calendar year).

The loss wasn't surprising since if you'll recall last season, the Caps absolutely owned the Black and Gold, going unbeaten in four games against them (two losses which I saw in person).

Funny thing about the Bruins this season is that they actually have some hype around the city and New England in general, not to mention nationally. Both Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine (where I get all the hockey info. I need) predict that the B's will win the Stanley Cup this season.

Who cares? Nobody but lazy sportswriters and low-life fans.

Until further notice, Pittsburgh and Washington in the Eastern Conference are better than the B's.

After a fast-paced first period, Washington jumped on top with a power play goal from Brooks Laich. Nicklas Backstrom and Ovechkin assisted on the goal with 2:45 left in the first period.

Ovechkin showed off his crazy Russian moves in the second period when he smoked a snap/wrist shot past Bruins goalie Tim Thomas (30 saves). Alexander Semin and Backstrom assisted on that tally.

Boston's fate was sealed at the end of the second period as captain Zdeno Chara took a stupid cross check penalty after going after Ovechkin. Mark Recchi had been leveled by Ovie and Chara took exception.

16 seconds into the third period, on the power play, Washington cashed in again as Laich scored another power play marker from Backstrom and Semin.

A minutes and 41 seconds later Ovechkin scored off a one-timer from Tom Poti (and Laich).

Patrice Bergeron gave the home crowd something to cheer about as he scored a goal from Steve Begin (newly acquired scrub from the Canadiens) and Mark Stuart.

The only remaining thing that was slightly noteworthy was a fight between Shawn Thornton and Capitals tough guy John Erskine.

Washington goalie Jose Theodore only had to make 19 saves in the win.

Boston and their fans can act like this game never happened by showing up to play tomorrow night against the Hurricanes.