Capitals have chances but cannot capitalize The Capitals had their chances against the Boston Bruins on Sunday afternoon.
Alex Ovechkin was robbed by star goalie Tim Thomas on a point-blank shot. Teammate Alexander Semin watched a backhanded attempt suffer the same fate. And defenseman Dennis Wideman, knowing how his former teammate likes to come out hard at shooters, just clipped the goalie’s pads as he took a promising power-play shot.
But all of those chances came in the first period. And when Washington failed to convert, the defending Stanley Cup champions were more than willing to do so themselves in a 4-1 win at Verizon Center.
Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand both scored for Boston in the first period — with the latter tally just 82 seconds before intermission — and a goal by Tyler Seguin at 6:38 of the third period effectively put the game out of reach. Thomas finished with 35 saves. It was the first time Washington (27-21-4, 58 points) outshot an opponent since a Jan. 3 game against Calgary. It was the Caps’ most shots in a game since they registered 44 against Ottawa on Dec. 7.
“I don’t think we gave it much effort,” forward Matt Hendricks said. “We did have chances to score goals, but at the same time they did a good job capitalizing on their opportunities.”
The Caps finally broke through when Marcus Johansson’s pass clicked off a Bruins’ skate and past Thomas at 12:04 of the third period. But Washington couldn’t push home another to make it close, and Rich Peverley scored an empty-net goal with 41 seconds left.
Already without center Nicklas Backstrom and defenseman Mike Green, the Caps can’t exactly afford to go without any other key players. They might have to. Center Brooks Laich took a hit from Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg with eight minutes left in the second period and didn’t return. Laich left Verizon Center on crutches and wearing a sizable knee immobilizer on his left leg.
“We’ll see tomorrow. I’m not a doctor, but these things sometimes there’s some swelling and you got to wait to see what happens,” Laich said. “But I don’t think it’s anything serious. In the past I’ve been a fast healer. So we’ll see when I wake up.”
One day after breaking his nose in a win at Montreal on Saturday, rookie defenseman Dmitry Orlov missed the final 10 minutes Sunday when yet another puck ramped up teammate Roman Hamrlik’s stick and hit him in the face. Orlov did not return, though Caps coach Dale Hunter said he should be fine for Tuesday’s game against Florida. Orlov’s eyes were just watering too much to rejoin the game.
For now, Laich is the bigger concern. He leads all Washington forwards in ice time. He is fourth in ice time on the power play and ranks third on the penalty kill. No one on the team has taken more faceoffs than Laich (903), who also has 10 goals and 18 assists.
