In True Bruins Style, They Wasted A Great Chance To Win Game 1 Vs. The Capitals, Falling 3-2 In OT

 

    The Bruins and Capitals had the honor of opening the 2021 NHL playoffs this evening at the Capital One Arena and Washington took Game 1 by a score of 3-2 in overtime as something called Nic Dowd tipped in the game-winning goal at 4:41. Boston never led but it still felt like a tilt that they should have found a way to win since Caps rookie goaltender Vitek Vanecek (3 saves, 1 goal allowed) went down with a game-ending lower-body injury only 13:10 into the first period. In his place stepped 39-year-old veteran journeyman (this is his 5th NHL team!) Craig Anderson-who had only played in four games during the regular season-and he proceeded to stop 21 out of 22 shots for the win. It is only one game so I'm not going to freak out yet but I will say that if Boston loses this series, I'm confident that Game 1 will be a result they would dearly wish to have back. 

    Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask (29 saves) was good for much of the night except of course when it counted most which seems to be one of his specialties when it comes to the playoffs. He actually made the initial save on Dowd's tip of right wing T.J. Oshie's shot but the puck bounced off Rask's chest protector directly down to his stick which knocked it into his net. Woof. There are plenty of B's fans who are very tired of Rask these days so I can only imagine how many of them said something along the lines of "I told you so!" in that instance. Washington's chief piece of human garbage Tom Wilson had the secondary assist on what was undoubtedly the biggest goal of Dowd's life. 

    Speaking of Wilson, he also opened the scoring with the first goal of the postseason in the NHL. Ugh, you can't make this stuff up. Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy's stick broke in the offensive zone so the Capitals got a 2-on-1 with Oshie feeding Wilson who picked the top corner over Rask's glove hand. Left wing Daniel Sprong had the second assist at 6:22 of the first period. Boston's fourth line surprisingly provided the timely response for the B's as left wing Jake DeBrusk fired a quick shot after a face-off scrum for the tying goal at 13:10 of the first period. Center Curtis Lazar had the lone assist (his 1st playoff point as a Bruin) as he got the puck back to DeBrusk. That goal is when Vanecek got hurt and Anderson had to come in ice cold and rusty, no pressure.

    Playoff hockey is all about random guys stepping up and the second period was more proof of that as Caps defenseman Brendan Dillon's shot from the point deflected off Bruins defenseman Jeremy Lauzon's stick and past Rask at 8:44. Right wing Anthony Mantha (1st career playoff point) and Capitals icon Alex Ovechkin had the assists on Dillon's first ever playoff goal. Once again, it did not take Boston long to answer though as left wing Nick Ritchie was credited with a power play goal after right wing David Pastrnak's shot went off Ritchie's skate in front of Anderson. McAvoy had the second assist at 16:38 that tied it up at two. 

         Game 2 is set for Monday (7:30, NESN) back at the Capital One Arena and while I would not call it a must-win for the black and gold, it is in that scary neighborhood. Who knows if Vanecek will be able to play then or for the rest of the series but regardless, Boston has to get much more out of their top two lines that were both basically invisible in Game 1. More than anyone, Rask could also use a win since if the Bruins returned to Boston down 0-2 in the series, you wonder if head coach Bruce Cassidy would be tempted to throw rookie goaltender Jeremy Swayman in there to turn things around? There is very little separating these clubs so expect a long and tight series, I don't think that there will be many blowouts or one-sided affairs.

Bruins Blow Out The Capitals 5-1 After Another Dirty Hit By Wilson Sends Carlo To The Hospital

 

    Hockey is a violent sport (or at least it used to be) so there are going to be big hits, fights and nasty plays. That's a given but it also goes by an unspoken code of conduct that helps decide what is over the line and thus must be answered for (usually by dropping the gloves). Tonight at the TD Garden, the Bruins (13-5-3 overall, 6-1-1 home) destroyed the Capitals (13-6-4 overall, 6-3-2 away) 5-1 but probably all that anyone will remember is the latest ugly incident involving Washington's goon Tom Wilson. He took a run at Boston's defenseman Brandon Carlo and knocked his head into the glass in a very hard manner. The end result was that Carlo went to the hospital in an ambulance and yet somehow Wilson didn't get called for a single penalty. Thankfully, the B's made him pay later as he fought their newest defenseman Jarred Tinordi in the second period then rookie left wing Trent Frederic sparred with him in the third period. 

    Wilson has been suspended four times by the NHL so honestly I hope that the league gives him a very serious punishment for that totally unnecessary play that could result in a serious injury to Carlo or whomever is on the other end of it. Enough is enough, this guy is an embarrassment to the league. Ok, moving on from that asshat. After Wednesday's 2-1 shootout loss, the B's improved to 2-0-2 vs. the Capitals this season-only halfway through their eight scheduled meetings they've notched six out of a possible eight points. Bruins left wing Brad Marchand got it started with a backhander at 14:21 of the first period that made it 1-0 in favor of the home team. Center Patrice Bergeron and defenseman Charlie McAvoy had the assists on Marchand's team-high 11th goal of the season. 

    The second period is when Boston really started to pull away from Washington by scoring three more unanswered goals in the frame. Frederic re-directed a sweet pass by McAvoy at 6:43. Right wing Craig Smith added the secondary assist on Frederic's third goal of the season. Boston's top forward line combined for a beautiful tally that made it 3-0 at 9:01: center Patrice Bergeron had basically the entire net to shoot at as right wing David Pastrnak's feed went by Marchand and to Bergy who slammed it in for his ninth goal of the season. That barrage concluded with another re-direct-this time it was defenseman Matt Grzelcyk finding Marchand at the side of Washington's net to tap it in.

    Ritchie one-timed a sweet pass from Krejci and right wing Craig Smith at 1:05 for his eighth goal of the season. The tally came a few seconds before Frederic fought Wilson and it was the only marker allowed by backup goaltender Ilya Samsonov (6 saves) who came on in relief of rookie starter Vitek Vanecek (14 saves, 10-5-3) late in the second period. The only thing that prevented B's goaltender Jaroslav Halak (31 saves, 5-2-1) from earning the shutout was a goal by Caps right wing Jakub Vrana at 13:36. The snipe was his eighth goal of the season and it was assisted by center Nicklas Backstrom (700th NHL point) and right wing T.J. Oshie. 

    Boston returns to practice tomorrow at Warrior Ice Arena before hosting the free-falling Devils (7-10-2) on Sunday night (5, NESN). New Jersey has lost their last four games in a row and they are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games. I know that they have given the Bruins trouble in earlier meetings this season but the B's should be able to handle them this time around. Center Charlie Coyle surprisingly returned this evening after missing only one game due to the health and safety protocols (maybe he had a false positive?) and if Carlo misses time, I'd expect to see John Moore back in the lineup while he is out. Fingers crossed that Carlo is OK and also that Wilson gets a serious suspension from the NHL, otherwise what are we even doing here? 

UPDATE 3/6/21: Today was a good day as Carlo returned home from the hospital and Wilson was suspended for seven games by the NHL Department of Player Safety. 

Someone Should Probably Tell the Bruins That the NHL Playoffs Start on Tuesday Afternoon

    Did you know that the NHL has returned to action? Most hockey fans are probably aware that the season re-started last Saturday after pausing in mid-March due to the Coronavirus pandemic. However, if you are a Bruins fan, the best team in the league before the break has looked nothing like that going 0-3 in round-robin play to drop from the top seed in the Eastern Conference to the No. 4 seed. As a result of Sunday's 2-1 loss to Washington, the B's will meet the Hurricanes in the first-round of the playoffs instead of the Islanders (who they would have met if they had beaten the Capitals). 

    On one hand, with such an experienced team, it's hard to overreact to three games that probably didn't mean all that much. With all the East teams in Toronto for their bubble city and West teams in Edmonton, there is no such thing as home ice in the 2020 NHL playoffs (haha the Maple Leafs and Oilers would surely agree after both were bounced in the round-robin). Then again, of all the major sports home ice has always meant the least in hockey but it still has to be bizarre to play in front of an empty arena. 

    Regardless, a win or two in the past week would have been nice for the B's considering that things really ramp up on Tuesday with the start of the NHL playoffs. They no-showed in a 4-1 loss to the Flyers (who surprisingly went 3-0 to become the No. 1 overall seed in the East) last Sunday afternoon. That was followed by a frustrating 3-2 to Tampa Bay on Wednesday afternoon then today's snoozefest. Most alarmingly, the Black and Gold never led in those three contests. Hell, they never even were in front during their lone exhibition game: a 4-1 loss to the Blue Jackets on July 30. 

     Of course, it's pretty tough to win when you score four total goals in three games and half of those came from Chris Wagner. We all love the Mayor of Walpole but if he is your leading scorer, you are going nowhere fast except home from the postseason. Charlie McAvoy-against Tampa-and Jake DeBrusk-today against Washington-had the other goals if you were keeping track. No Bruins update would be complete without some Tuukka Rask drama and it happened right out of the gate when he was "unfit to play"-the 2020 catch-all term for NHL players-against Philadelphia. He's been OK in his two appearances but he allowed a terrible rebound that led to the late game-winning goal vs. Tampa Bay then he also gave up a backbreaking tally to T.J. Oshie with 16 seconds left in the first period this afternoon vs. Washington. From there, Braden Holtby put together his usual lights out performance vs. Boston, finishing with 30 mostly routine saves. Oh and all-around lowlife Tom Wilson fittingly had the deciding goal for the Caps. 

      Jaroslav Halak was not sharp against the Flyers and Rask played every game in the playoffs last year, so I don't expect there to be a goalie controversy. Boston's top forward line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak were held scoreless in these three games but there's no way they go totally missing like that against Carolina (who swept the Rangers in three games). Zdeno Chara obviously looks all of his 78 years old but hopefully grandpa will pick it up when the games mean something. 

     I don't believe that you can take much from last season's sweep by the Bruins of Carolina in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Hurricanes were woefully overmatched and thus, the series was never that competitive. If Covid-19 and this current horrifying existence has taught us anything, it's to take nothing for granted. The Penguins got upset by the Canadiens in four games, same as the Oilers against the Blackhawks. Boston will be favored and they should win the series but I doubt it will be a sweep.

    Most importantly, with all the terrible things going on all over the world right now, at least we have these wonderful playoff games to take us away for a few hours. For that, I could kiss NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on the lips. Haha just kidding, he's still a smug douchebag. 

    Predicting what will happen is a waste of time but we all know how prideful and hard-working this Bruins group has been the last few years. After coming so close to winning another Stanley Cup last June vs. St. Louis (only to choke in Game 7 at TD Garden), it was remarkable how quickly they put that behind them to have a killer regular season. None of that means anything now though, it's a new season and they have to be ready to go from Game 1, unlike the general malaise that they've been stuck in for the last week-plus.  

Game 1: Bruins vs. Hurricanes, Tuesday at 8 p.m. on NESN

Game 2: Bruins vs. Hurricanes, Thursday at 8 p.m. on NESN

Game 3: Bruins vs. Hurricanes, Saturday at 12 p.m. on NBC

Game 4: Bruins vs. Hurricanes, Monday at 8 p.m. on NESN

 

 

At This Point, I've Accepted the Fact That I'll Never See the Bruins Beat the Capitals Again

It is getting quite comical at this point: no matter how well the Bruins (25-15-4) are playing (winners of 5 straight and 8-2-0 in their last 10 games), they simply cannot find a way to defeat the Capitals (27-12-4). Tonight at TD Garden, they tried their best but couldn't get the job done as Washington skated out of town with a 4-2 victory. The B's dropped to a hard-to-believe 0-11-3 in their last 14 games against the defending champs. Their last home win vs. the Caps was almost five years ago (March 6, 2014).

Backup goaltender Jaroslav Halak (18 saves, 13-7-2) got the start despite the fact that Tuukka Rask (12-8-2) has won his last four outings and is finally playing like the better option that he should be. Boston had a much better performance than the 7-0 Opening Night (Oct. 3) beating that they took in D.C. Still, when you nearly double your opponent in shots on goal (41-22) and win almost twice as many faceoffs (42-22), how do you lose? Halak was not at his best but neither were his teammates that managed to somehow turn a whopping 74 shot attempts (41 on goal, 18 blocked, 15 missed net) into just two goals. I'm no Will Hunting but that's not good enough. Haha sorry, had to do it.

On the other side, the best players from the Capitals all showed up. Captain Alex Ovechkin had two goals, Nicklas Backstrom added another and goaltender Braden Holtby (39 saves, 17-10-2) looked nothing like the guy that's had an uneven first half of 2018/19. In the process of standing on his head against the black and gold, Holtby improved to 16-2-0 in his career against them. The Bruins gave up an early first goal, never led and each time that they scored, they allowed a quick and painful rebuttal by the Capitals.

22-year-old left wing Jakub Vrana is one of the young players that is stepping up for the Caps. He's already reached a career-high in goals (15) and he scored on a breakaway at 6:38 of the first period. T.J. Oshie had the lone assist as Washington led 1-0 after the first despite getting mostly dominated (outshot 17-5). Ryan Donato has been scuffling for much of this season in Boston so it was encouraging to see him score on a beautiful snipe over Holtby's glove at 14:11 of the second period. Torey Krug and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson had the assists on Donato's sixth goal of the season. While the PA announcer was talking about that tally, Washington made it a moot point as Ovi slipped loose in the slot 39 seconds later for his NHL-best 31st goal of the season. The NHL's public enemy No. 1 Tom Wilson had the lone assist on the backbreaking goal.

Boston fell to 1-12-1 when they trail after two periods so when they were down 2-1 headed into the third, we should have already given any fleeting hope that we had left. The B's had 1:53 of a power play that carried over from the second but they couldn't convert on that one. Luckily the Capitals were called for too many men on the ice (served by Ovechkin) shortly after that and the Bruins' No. 3 ranked power play finally cashed in on its fifth opportunity. David Krejci blasted a shot by Holtby at 4:37 that tied it at two apiece. Danton Heinen and David Backes provided the assists on Krejci's eighth goal of the season. This time it took the Caps just over a minute (1:09) to respond. Backstrom beat Halak with a low-hard shot from some distance that truthfully, he would stop when he was on top of his game (he admitted as much afterwards). Oshie and rookie defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler had the assists on Backstrom's 11th goal of the season.

Halak actually made a bunch of quality saves after that to keep the Bruins in it but they never really tested Holtby too much more. Ovechkin ended any suspense that remained as he put in an empty-netter from a faceoff circle in his own defensive zone at 18:25. The good news for the Bruins is that they won't see the Capitals again unless it is in the postseason this spring. We'll worry about that if and when it occurs.

For now, they're onto Toronto (28-13-2) on Saturday night (7, NESN). It's a huge Atlantic Division showdown and the last meeting of the regular season for those Original Six rivals. The B's lead it 2-1 but Toronto is four points ahead of them for second-place and they have a game in hand. Rask will be back in net and it looks like defenseman Charlie McAvoy could make another return from his latest mysterious injury (foot). It's a difficult few days as they come back here to host Montreal (23-17-5) on Monday (7:30, NESN).

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