(Welcome to the TD Garden for today’s match-up between the Boston Bruins and visiting Washington Capitals.)

Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals haven’t been to the TD Garden since Dec. 2010. To put it lightly, a lot has changed for the Caps since then. Their no longer the beasts of the Eastern Conference -- currently fighting to hang onto the eighth seed in the East -- and the always-entertaining Bruce Boudreau can now be found behind the bench in Anaheim as Washington legend Dale Hunter took over behind the Caps’ bench.

But ending their three-game slide on Thursday came at a cost. Losing defensemen Mike Green on a dirty hit to Tampa’s Brett Connolly, the Caps come to Boston without the services of No. 52 by way of a three-game suspension handed down to him yesterday. In his place, the Caps with suit up either John Erskine (a healthy scratch in 17 of the last 18 games) or Roman Hamrlik (a scratch in seven straight).

The Bruins will give the start to Tim Thomas. The 37-year-old Thomas stopped 19-of-20 in Thursday’s 3-1 win over Buffalo, and is 14-4-2 against the Caps in his career with a .926 save-percentage. Marty Turco will be his back-up. He'll be countered by Tomas Vokoun, who stopped 24 of 26 on Thursday, stopping a personal three-game losing skid.

On a lineup note, the Bruins will be without the services of Benoit Pouliot this afternoon, and Mike Mottau will suit up as a seventh defensemen/winger. That should be worth the price of admission alone.

First Period

20:00 - Large number of Caps fans in the crowd today. Lots o' red.

16:00 - Mike Mottau finishes his first shift on the fourth line wing. That was ugly.

12:40 - Ovechkin -- the most exciting player to watch come down the wing or what?

12:10 - Alexander Semin on the doorstep and it's 1-0. That'll be Semin's 18th, and that was easy looking. B's looked real, real tired to begin this one.

11:45 - Well, that escalated quickly! B's, deciding that defense is overrated, can't clear the puck out from in front of the net, and Matt Hendricks bangs it home. 2-0 Caps. B's take their timeout, and Julien's miffed. For good reason.

10:17 - Whoa. Zdeno Chara with a hit on Marcus Johansson that breaks the glass -- but not the first pane, the second inside the penalty box! Monster. The good news: The fans appear to be OK, and we'll play on.

8:41 - Bruins going on the power-play. Mathieu Perreault to the box.

7:40 - Brian Rolston quarterbacking the Boston power-play on that last chance. He didn't look half bad at it either, Caps doing a great job of blocking shooting lanes.

6:40 - Matching minors here. Milan Lucic and Karl Alzner going off. They each share some words for one another.

3:57 - Bruins going back on the advantage here. Roman Hamrlik off for tripping Lane MacDermid. That's the second penalty MacDermid's drawn so far.

2:30 - Joe Corvo -- misses the net on the doorstep. Brutal.

1:46 - A tremendous saucer pass cross-slot but Tyler Seguin can't bury it. Vokoun with the big save, his 11th of the period.

:21 - Jordan Caron skating off slowly -- looks to be an equipment issue though.

:05.6 - And just like that, the lead is cut in half. Milan Lucic gets the goal, beating Vokoun, and it's 2-1. It all starts with Patrice Bergeron off the face-off.

Thoughts after 20...

Well, the Bruins really buckled down after that timeout. Out-shot 12 to 3 at the time of the timeout, and losing by two, the Bruins rebounded to finish the period tied in shots with 13 a side, and only trail by one thanks to Lucic's last-second goal. Want an encouraging stat? The Bruins are 15-1-1 this year when they score in the final two minutes of a period.

Also, the B's top-six centermen continue to clean house at the face-off dot. Bergeron and Krejci went 9-for-15 in the first period, and they've now won 29 of their last 42 face-offs. That's a lethal 66.6 face-off percentage, confirming that the Bruins are the devils everyone claims them to be.

Second Period

16:00 - Yeah, the Mottau-as-a-forward experiment really needs to end.

15:02 - That's a total bailout by Captain Ovechkin right there. He gets decked by a guy playing his 57th career game, wants a call, gives up on the call, and it's a breakaway (and goal) by Brad Marchand. That's his 23rd of the season.

11:01 - Greg Zanon going off. Caps getting their first power-play of the game.

8:38 - McQuaid and Seidenberg collide behind the Boston net, and Semin throws it to Jay Beagle, who wastes no time in banging home his second goal of the year. Yikes.

7:57 - Krejci going off for shooting the puck at the referees following his displeasure with the offsides call.

5:00 - Boston Johnny Boychuk blocks a shot and heads off favoring his foot, but is back on the bench in no time.

4:26 - Zanon with his second penalty of the period. A soft, soft 'roughing' and it's time for the Caps' second power-play of this one.

2:29 - Perfect tip by Brooks Laich. Even better patience from Dennis Wideman, who held the puck for the perfect amount of time, and it's 4-2 Caps.

Thoughts after 40...

Boston's up against it now. They finished the first strong, had a good start to the second, and then the wheels came off once they tied it. Washington got back into the thick of things thanks to three power-plays, and finished the period with a 15-to-7 shot count in their favor along with a 4-2 lead.

They're 19-0-0 this year when leading after two. Yikes.

Third Period

12:58 - Capitals still without a shot in the period. Bruins have six of their own.

10:00 - You could read a book in here -- peacefully I may add -- and nothing would distract you. Completely dead vibe here at the Garden.

5:30 - Slow, slow unit out for Boston. The fourth line featuring Gregory Campbell, Thornton, Mottau up front and McQuaid and Zanon on the blue-line. Goodness.

4:06 - Just over four to play. Caps with two shots in the period, B's with eight.

3:13 - Not done yet. A Boychuk poke-in and it's 4-3. That'll extend Caron's point-streak, too. Four games.

2:39 - This place is buzzing now. Everyone's on their feet, they want the equalizer.

:30 - Tons of chances, but the B's can't bury 'em. Ouch.

0.0 - Caps hang out for a tough one, beat the Bruins 4-3.

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