For The Third Straight Game, B's & Caps Went To OT But This Time, Craig Smith Won It For Boston

 

    This is getting silly: the last 12 playoff games between the Bruins and Capitals have all been decided by one goal with now eight of those ending in overtime. Tonight at the TD Garden for Game 3 of their first round series, Boston outlasted Washington 3-2 in double overtime with veteran right wing Craig Smith doing the honors with his second career playoff overtime goal which gave the B's a 2-1 series lead. Once again, the Bruins found themselves trailing in the third period before tying it then winning it in the extra session. All three contests in this series have gone to overtime which is crazy. This is a very tough way to live but it is somehow working so far for the black and gold. 

    The big news right before Game 3 started was that Washington's goaltender Ilya Samsonov would start while Pheonix Copley served as the backup and Craig Anderson (who started Game 2) did not even dress. For a guy who had not played since May 1 (due to being in the Covid-19 protocol), Samsonov (40 saves) did not show many signs of rust. Well except for the play that decided the game: he had a chance to the touch the puck behind his net but he hesitated which allowed Smith to swoop in and use a wraparound shot to stuff it in the net at 5:48. Fittingly Smith-who was Bruins GM Don Sweeney's only real notable free agent signed last off-season-was credited with an unassisted tally since nobody on his team helped him per se, that was all thanks to his hustle, speed and determination. 

    After a scoreless first period (which Boston dominated, outshooting Washington 10-4), the Caps built a pair of one-goal leads in the second period which they could not protect. Captain Alex Ovechkin made it 1-0 for the visitors with a one-timer from right wing Anthony Mantha at 8:21. It came on the power play and it was Ovi's first goal of the series. It took the Bruins 56 seconds to respond as left wing Taylor Hall scored a beautiful goal. He took a pass down low from Smith (with UVM's Kevan Miller picking up the other helper) and went backhand to forehand then he put the puck in the top shelf. Very few other B's could have pulled that entire sequence off that he made look so easy for his second goal of the series. Center Nick Dowd put Washington back in front 2-1 at 18:15 as he tipped in a shot from Brown's Garnet Hathaway. It was Dowd's second goal of the series as Boston's goaltender Tuukka Rask (35 saves) was victimized by another tip (or deflection) in the early going of this series. 

    The Capitals turned up the heat in the second period (outshooting the Bruins 16-11) and they tripled Boston's shots on goal total (9-3) in the third period but the black and gold probably did not care one bit since they tied it on left wing Brad Marchand's amazing reaction play. BU's Charlie McAvoy (who played a game-high 33:52) started it by shuttling the puck to captain Patrice Bergeron in the bumper position on the power play. Bergy's shot was deflected but Marchand was there to bat it out of mid-air and straight into the net at 11:32. His second goal of the series made the Garden explode with excitement.

    The B's will have an optional practice tomorrow before they hit the Garden ice on Friday (6:30, NESN) for Game 4. Obviously, that's a huge tilt as well since the difference between leading the series 3-1 or being knotted at two games apiece is enormous. I've accepted that most likely every game in this series will be close like this and perhaps more overtime will be needed to help settle things. Center Evgeni Kuznetsov returned as well this evening from his Covid-19 battle (he had also been out since May 1) so there really aren't any other big moves left for Caps head coach Peter Laviolette to make. It would be nice to see the Bruins carry the momentum from these back-to-back overtime triumphs into Game 4 but then again, I won't hold my breath for that.

In Boston, The Capitals Leave No Doubt As To Who the Best Team in the NHL is at the Moment

Unlike the pitiful effort that they displayed in Friday's disgraceful 5-1 loss to Montreal in the Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium, at least tonight at TD Garden the Bruins (20-14-4) showed some sense of pride. The problem was that they were facing the Capitals (29-7-3), who in case you have been living under a rock happen to be the top team in the league, so they came up short once again 3-2. Boston has lost five out of its last six games as they depart for a pivotal five-game road trip beginning on Friday (7, NESN) in New Jersey.

Joonas Kemppainen returned after missing 11 games with an upper-body injury but Adam McQuaid left early in the second period with what had to be a concussion after Zach Sill boarded him. There was no call on the play but McQuaid appeared to be knocked out after going face-first into the glass. That meant that the Bruins had to play with five defensemen for more than half of the contest. Don't forget that David Krejci remains out with his upper-body injury, Brad Marchand was out (2nd game of his 3-game suspension) and David Pastrnak is back from the World Juniors Championships but for now playing in Providence.

Spotting a 2-0 lead to the Capitals made things infinitely more tough for the goal-challenged Black and Gold. Andre Burakovsky one-timed a pretty cross-ice feed from Evgeny Kuznetsov at 15:01 of the first period. My man Aaron Ness had the second assist on Burakovsky's fourth goal of the season. Kuznetsov doubled Washington's lead at 12:40 of the second period with a power play strike. He walked right in and ripped a shot over Rask's shoulder. Nicklas Backstrom and Matt Niskanen assisted on Kuznetsov's 13th goal of the season.

Scoring two goals against Braden Holtby (25 saves) is a big accomplishment since he's been the best goaltender in the NHL. He is 17-0-2 in his last 19 decisions and if they had the vote right now, he would be a front-runner for the Vezina Trophy (MVP). Loui Eriksson got Boston on the board at 15:26, Brett Connolly and Patrice Bergeron assisted on his 14th goal of the season. When Marcus Johansson put in a loose puck at 10:41 of the third period for a 3-1 Washington lead, you knew that it was over. Dmitry Orlov's shot from the point hit the post and Nate Schmidt had the second assist on Johansson's 10th goal of the season. The Capitals have seven guys with 10+ goals this season, I doubt that any other club can top that.

After Washington's No. 2 power play came through, Boston's No. 1 power play made its presence felt too as Patrice Bergeron scored at 11:52 of the third to cut it to 3-2. Ryan Spooner and Torey Krug assisted on Bergeron's 15th goal of the season (tying him with Marchand for the team lead). Boston fell to 9-11-2 at home in 2015-16 while they are 11-3-2 on the road. They have to hope that bizarre road success carries over the next few weeks since after New Jersey, they'll be in Ottawa on Saturday (7, NESN) night. They are at the Rangers on Monday (7, NESN), at the Flyers on Wednesday (8, NBCSN) and wrap things up in Buffalo on Friday (7, NESN). Even in their current state of disarray, they should win at least two of those matchups. For what it's worth, if the playoffs started today Washington would face Boston. Scary stuff indeed.

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We're Still Waiting for the Real Bruins to Show Up This Season

In three games so far this season, the Bruins have scored a grand total of three goals (for non-math majors, that's one per game). We can complain about new lines or other aspects of the team but with that simple stat, it's surprising that Boston (1-2-0) has already won a game. Tonight, they flatlined with a 4-0 no-show against the Capitals (1-0-1) at TD Garden. What made it so disappointing was that they kind of did the same thing, with less gross results, in Thursday's 2-1 loss at Detroit.

Alex Ovechkin scored twice, Nicklas Backstrom, Andre Burkovsky and Evgeny Kuznetsov each had two assists and Braden Holtby recorded his 12th career shutout with 29 mostly soft serve saves. It was the first time that Holtby had ever blanked the B's. Ironically, the last time that Boston had been shut out in regular season was basically a year ago (Oct. 10, 2013) vs. Colorado (2-0) which was also the third game of the season.

The disturbing part about this slow start is that the Bruins haven't exactly played the iron of the NHL: Philadelphia, Detroit and Washington are all teams that figure to be battling for some of the last playoff spots in the weak Eastern Conference right down to the wire.

Bobby Robins got into his second fight of the season (both at home) but this one wasn't particularly smart since it was preceded by a kneeing penalty. Ovechkin cashed that in with a patented one-timer from the faceoff dot at 11:26 of the first period on assists from John Carlson and Backstrom. If that wasn't easy enough, Ovi doubled Washington's lead at 18:39 after a simple cycle down low by Backstrom and Karl Alzner left him wide open as he went to the net.

You hate to write them off too soon but with the way they've struggled to put the puck in the net, or even create dangerous chances, it felt like it was over when Mike Green netted Washington's second power play tally at 10:34 of the second period. He was assisted by Kuznetsov and Backstrom on another one-timer that beat Tuukka Rask (17 saves).

Playing with Ryan Spooner and Mark Fraser, Milan Lucic has been a ghost so you know that he's frustrated. Green hit him from behind so Lucic took exception to it and was called for cross checking and a 10-minute misconduct. He might as well have gone after him harder and gotten some more frustration out because that was pointless.

Carlson added the final goal in garbage time, one last one-timer that Rask said was deflected, at 18:46 from Burakovsky and Kuznetsov. Woof. The Bruins were rightfully booed off the ice by the few remaining fans after the game ended.

There is only one way to go from here: up. The B's will try to find their game on Monday afternoon (1, NESN) in their customary Columbus Day matinee-this time against former Bruins great Jarome Iginla and Colorado (0-1-0). Since Rask has started all three games thus far and played every minute, I would expect his backup Niklas Svedberg to make his 2014-15 Bruins debut. Rask isn't the issue by any means but head coach Claude Julien has to be prudent about giving him a break when he can, especially in this busy stretch to start the year (four games in six days).

Boston hadn't lost two straight in regulation since January 7 & January 9 last season. The last time that they dropped three straight in regulation was March 10-15, 2012. Eventually, David Krejci and Gregory Campbell will return (but Johnny Boychuk won't) and the Bruins are bound to start looking like themselves again, right? Even if they don't have those guys on Monday, there is no reason that they can't put these three forgettable contests behind them as they try to play like the team that many picked to win the Eastern Conference.

UPDATE 10/12: The B's made a minor move this morning: sending Craig Cunningham down to Providence and recalling Seth Griffith. This new fourth line changes everything!

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