Bruins Cant Capitalize, Fall 4-3 in Washington

Mar 6, 2013

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The Washington Capitals bested the Boston Bruins during the Stanley Cup playoffs last season; sending Boston packing after the first round. The two teams will face-off a total of three times this season, the first of those meetings in Washington with a ____ outcome.

Braden Holtby was a force to be reckoned with last season, but was no match for Brad Marchand at 6:29 of the first period; when Marchand was awarded a penalty shot and put the puck between the pipes.

“I read some scouting reports before the game on him [Holbty],” said Bruins Brad Marchand. “I went five-hole and I was thinking that [skating] the whole way down.”

Fast forward to 17:07, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara scored to make it 2-0. Putting the Capitals in an already precarious position, Dougie Hamilton sniped the puck at 18:30 for his third goal of the season. Hamilton has found success on the ice recently and scored his second goal of the season on Sunday night in Boston’s 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Clearly skating with fire, the Bruins headed to their locker room up 3-0.

5;46 of the second was finally a moment for Capitals fans to cheer. Mike Ribeiro scored on a feed from Alex Ovechkin and Steve Oleksy, who was skating in his first NHL game and gaining his first NHL point. Another newcomer was intrical in the Capitals comeback when Tomas Kundratek netted his first NHL goal at 11:32 from Eric Fehr and Nicklas Backstrom.

The third period was anyone’s game, with opportunities on both ends of the ice neither team could pull ahead and the Bruins lackluster play finally gave way to a Capitals opportunity. At 13:55 Wolski found the back of the net with assists from yet again, Eric Fehr and Nicklas Backstrom. The goal evened the score at 3-3 and sent the game to an extremely abbreviated overtime as Eric Fehr beat Bruins Rask at just 37 seconds into the period.

Similar to seasons in the past, Boston has become a repeat offender in striking early, followed closely by “giving the game away”. For two games in a row the final score was 4-3 and not in the Bruins favor.

Boston is back at it tomorrow night when the Toronto Maple Leafs skate into town. The Leafs who have found themselves ablaze as of late, in part to Nazem Kadri will look to hand Boston a hat trick of losses.