Caps (8-4-0, 16 points) vs. Bruins (7-2, 14 points)
What » Game #13
Where » Verizon Center
When » 7 p.m.
TV » CSN HD
Radio » WFED-1500 AM
The Caps and Bruins meet for the third time in less than a month. Only the Los Angeles Kings (9-3, 18 points) and Philadelphia Flyers (8-4-1, 17 points) have more points than Washington, which is tied for first place in the Southeast Division.
Tim Thomas is likely in goal again for the Bruins, according to the Boston Globe. He has already beaten the Caps twice this season in 3-1 and 4-1 Boston victories. Thomas has stopped 73 of the 75 shots Washington has fired at him. Got some thoughts yesterday from some Caps players and coach Bruce Boudreau on Thomas for a story that ran in the print edition this morning. Boudreau remembers his first impression of a young Thomas – destined for parts of five seasons in Finland and Sweden and a few more in the AHL before he became of one the NHL’s best goalies.
“Yeah – I’m wondering who is this chubby little goalie that’s not allowing any goals in when he was in Providence,” Boudreau said. “And he’d take his mask off and his face would be really red and I’m going ‘Wow, he can’t keep this up.’ But he always did. He played so great against our teams. I’d sit there and wonder why no NHL team has jumped all over this guy and then [former Boston general manager] Mike O’Connell was smart enough to see that he was good enough and brought him up to Boston.”
Plenty of other good storylines tonight, including the always-entertaining matchup of Caps forward Alex Ovechkin and Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara. For all the talk about Chara’s stellar play against Ovechkin over the years it’s fair to point out he has 11 goals and 12 assists in 22 games against Boston.
For his part, Alex Semin has three goals and 10 assists against the Bruins in 17 games. CSN’s Corey Masisak put together a nice story yesterday on Semin and his hot start to the season with seven goals, six assists and lot fewer dumb penalties. He is an unrestricted free agent after the season so Semin’s status in the organization is up in the air. Hasn’t affected him so far, obviously.
“I don’t know. Any time it’s a contract year it seems in any sport people overachieve,” Boudreau said. “But [Semin] was in a contract year last year, too. So I don’t think the money is anything that bothers him. I think he’s just growing up and he wants to be one of the best players. And he is.”
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