Bruins 3, Caps 1
Washington actually played pretty well in this one. They had good energy in the first 10 minutes, couldn’t convert some decent chances against veteran goalie Tim Thomas and paid for it when Boston scored twice before the first period was halfway over. Against a team like the Bruins falling behind is a serious no-no. They added an insurance goal in the third and the Caps spent a little too much time on their PK – as good as that group has been. Read the details in our game story here.
Congrats to rookie center Marcus Johansson, who recorded his first career NHL goal and point in the second period. A big assist to teammate Matt Hendricks, who forced the turnover that led to Jason Chimera’s nice pass from behind the net. Johansson did the rest.
“It feels good to get that pressure off your shoulders,” said Johansson, who was a +1 in 11:30 of ice time and earned the games Third Star. “We’ve been working hard in all the games and the puck hasn’t really bounced our lines’ way. Same thing a little bit today and one isn’t really enough.”
Washington probably had five or six decent opportunities to put pucks past Thomas in the first period. But the Bruins’ veteran – who won a Vezina Trophy in 2008-09 and found himself the back-up to Tuukka Rask last season – has found his form again. I swear at one point he did a full barrel roll in the crease to get back into the play on a Caps’ scoring chance. They also watched helplessly as some nice passes bounced over sticks or found a teammate on his wrong side. No excuses, though.
“That’s hockey. Hockey is a game of bounces and when they’re going well it seems we’re scoring goals. When they’re not this is kind of what happens,” Hendricks said. “Having said that, being down two goals and the bounces aren’t going your way it puts you behind the eight ball and you need to figure out ways around it.”
The Caps gave themselves a chance with their resurgent penalty kill. Penalties to Tomas Fleischmann and John Erskine – the latter a needless delay-of-game call at 10:06 of the second period – put Boston up 5-on-3 for 53 seconds. Some gritty work killed both penalties and Brooks Laich even had a breakaway that was spoiled by some alert Bruins defenders. Just a few minutes later Washington had to kill another power play four minutes later when David Steckel was whistled for a trip. But they killed that one, too, making the PK 25-for-25 so far this season. It’s early – but that’s a far cry from last year’s group, which ranked 25th in the NHL.
Rookie goalie Michal Neuvirth complained of a headache and dizziness in the first period and left the game. Semyon Varlamov made his season debut and stopped 14 of 15 shots and seems likely to get the start on Thursday in Boston. Caps coach Bruce Boudreau didn’t really fault Neuvirth for the two goals he did allow. And Varlamov was screened pretty good on Hunwick’s goal in the third. But Boudreau wouldn’t commit so soon to a Thursday starter.
“It wasn’t the most difficult game for a goaltender,” Varlamov said. “There weren’t a lot of dangerous moments. It’s just a shame that we lost.”
Thanks to Puck Daddy’s Dmitry Chesnokov for translating. Varlamov spoke in his native Russian.
Caps Notes
» After a practice last week, Caps defenseman John Erskine questioned how NHL official scorers hand out hits. Some games he knows he had three on a single shift and somehow finishes the game with two total. Well, tonight Erskine was credited with a game-high seven.
» Washington hadn’t lost in regulation to the Bruins since Jan. 23, 2006 – a span of nine games.
» Alex Semin fell one shot shy of his career-best 11 in a single game. He fired 10 on Thomas, including one that hit the post in the third period.
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