For the first time since Games 2 and 3 of their season-opening three-game losing streak, the Boston Bruins, stymied by the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center, have lost consecutive contests.
And as has often been the case in their defeats this year, it was a little bit of everything that the Black and Gold have struggled with out of the gate, that led to their downfall in D.C. on Thursday night.
The Bruins put an end to a near 200-minute shutout streak against the Bruins by Braden Holtby with winger Jimmy Hayes’ power-play strike midway through the first period. Hayes’ marker came with helpers from Brett Connolly and defenseman Colin Miller, and put the B’s power play at a whopping 7-for-18 on the road. (Boston would finish the night 1-for-2 on the power play, dipping that figure down to a still-impressive 7-for-19, a 36.8% success rate).
But when the B’s struggled to get the puck up and out of their own end and going the other way late in the opening frame, Alex Ovechkin and the Caps did what they do best and went to work.
As the Bruins chased the puck in their own end, a diving Ovechkin found the perfect spot to tuck a rebound through the B’s top-pairing of Zdeno Chara and Kevan Miller, and even through goaltender Tuukka Rask and did just that for his seventh goal of the season.
The Captain of the Capital’s strike was a crucial one, and put the Bruins-Caps even at 1-1 through one period of play, and was also good for his 17th goal and 37th point in 37 games against the Bruins.
Washington jumped out to a 2-1 edge just 4:10 into the second period behind Brooks Laich’s first of the season (and first in 17 regular season games) on a deflection off Dmitry Orlov’s point shot.
Frustrated and overwhelmed by the West-esque nastiness of the Capitals, the Bruins came unglued behind a Hayes slashing penalty and subsequent roughing by Brad Marchand on TJ Oshie just 42 seconds after Hayes’ call, which put the always dangerous Caps PP on a lengthy 5-on-3 advantage.
The Capitals needed just 29 seconds of it before John Carlson snuck low and pumped home his third goal of the year, as Nicklas Backstrom and Justin Williams picked up the helpers for the club.
Held to just seven third-period shots, the Bruins could not throw a legitimate push Washington’s way, and Karl Alzner’s empty-net strike at 18:10 of the third was more than enough for the Caps.
On the wrong side of a 4-1 game, Tuukka Rask skated off the ice with another loss to his game in spite of a 27-of-30 showing, and prolonged his Verizon Center misery. It remains as the only Eastern Conference building the 28-year-old has yet to win in, with an 0-5-3 record to his name.
The Capitals have now won four-straight regular-season games against the Bruins.
Random thoughts and notes
- Life Without Chris Kelly, Day 1 Report: the Bruins opted to put veteran Max Talbot in the lineup in the place of No. 23. That move makes sense from both a vocal, veteran leadership standpoint and from a versatility standpoint. Although he hasn’t been an overly effective centerman in the last few seasons, Talbot is a player that can play all three forward positions, and can serve as a secondary faceoff option in a defensive zone start, something Claude Julien has always utilized when possible.
The 31-year-old Talbot skated as the center of Boston’s second penalty-killing forward unit opposite winger Loui Eriksson, and finished with a minus-1 and two hits in 8:28 of time-on-ice.
Like Kelly, Talbot will give you everything he has in the tank, but Julien will not roll him out with the frequency he would with Kelly, which will ultimately limit his ability to replicate what Kelly did. (Then again, I’m not sure if it’s fair to expect Julien to find another Kelly. He could rely on him for anything.)
Expect Joonas Kemppainen’s workload to increase.
- It’s a shame that people are going to look at this box score and just assume that B’s netminder Tuukka Rask played poorly. He didn’t. He actually did his part to keep Boston within striking distance in this game, with his two massive shorthanded saves on TJ Oshie early in Washington’s second period power-play (before Marchand took that penalty) sticking out as obvious gamechanger-should-have-beens. Of the Caps’ three goals, only Laich’s goal had any real onus on Rask, as you expect him to squeeze the pads or find a way -- any way -- to keep that puck from trickling through him and into the cage. But even then, deflections are a tricky read for any goaltender.
- Behind Montreal’s Carey Price, it’s clear that Braden Holtby has emerged as Boston’s Boogeyman. With Thursday’s 28-save showing, the 26-year-old improved to 8-2-0 against the Bruins in his career. And if that .800 winning percentage wasn’t good enough for you, Holtby has posted a ridiculous .954 save percentage against the Black and Gold over that stretch. He’s undoubtedly replaced Henrik Lundqvist, whom the Bruins couldn’t solve for actual years before breaking through against ‘the King’ in 2013, as their biggest ‘Thank God he’s not in the Atlantic Division’ opponent.
- Tracking Hell Week: 0-2-0, three goals for, nine against. These Bruins are lookin’ an awful lot like the Bruins you saw and cursed out throughout the first 180 minutes of the season. (Not good.) And it doesn’t get easier with a weekend back-to-back in Montreal and New York. (Again, not good.)
- A game against a team from D.C. always calls for a little old school hardcore. Bad Brains was an easy pick, I thought, but how about some Minor Threat for this one? B's feelin' this way, I bet.
Up next
The Bruins will head to Montreal for a Saturday night showdown with the league-best Canadiens.
By now, the story of the Bruins-Canadiens rivalry has been told a billion times. But in case you’ve been living under a rock, and lord knows you’d like to if you’re a Bruins fan when it comes to this rivalry, the Black and Gold just cannot beat this team. Since the start of the 2012-13 season, the B’s have won just two of 13 regular-season head-to-head meetings with their rivals. The lone silver lining for the Bruins in this game comes with the health of Bruin Killer Carey Price, who doesn’t look like he’ll be ready to suit up for the Habs by Saturday (Price has been dealing with a lower-body injury).
(So you’re saying there’s a chance?)
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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