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The good news for the Boston Bruins is that their year really can’t get any worse than how it started. Victims of a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens at Gillette Stadium in the 2016 Winter Classic, the Black and Gold summed it up best when it came to their showing: We played our worst game at the worst time. So, it won’t take much for an improvement. The bad news, however, is that the Bruins welcome the East-best Washington Capitals to the Hub for their second game of ‘16.
‘I think it’s important for us to think that we need to win a hockey game here and nothing changes from before- the standings, the games in hand-- you have to win,… coach Claude Julien said. “Especially the way that last game ended we certainly needed a better performance from our team.…
For the B’s, it goes beyond their struggles of a listless Winter Classic. The Bruins have lost four of their last five games, and set for a showdown against a Washington netminder that’s allowed just 14 goals in 10 games against the B’s in Braden Holtby, Julien knows that his club’s road isn’t any easier.
“I think even if we have a lot of guys that are young, I think as a group our determination has been pretty good over the course of the season so far in wanting to turn things around and bounce back. And I know we’ve gone through a couple of slumps that probably lasted longer than we would’ve liked to but the resilience of our group is there and we keep trying to grow this team and get better,… Julien said. “I don’t think we’re the elite team that the Washington Capitals are, by no means, but it doesn’t mean you can’t play and you can’t beat a team like that. It just means, throughout the whole year they’ve got the experience, they’ve got the depth. I think they’re solid in almost all positions. We were that team at one point. We’re not there now; we’re trying to build ourselves towards that.…
The Caps took the only 2015-16 meeting between these two by a decisive 4-1 final, and come into Boston with wins in eight of their last 10 (and an overall 13-4-2 mark away from D.C.).
One boost for the Bruins comes with the likely return of Joonas Kemppainen to the lineup.
Out of action since Dec. 7 with an upper-body injury, the 27-year-old Kemppainen would give the B’s another natural centerman in their lineup (a welcomed sight for Julien) and poised two-way presence for a Boston lineup hurting without the services of David Krejci and winger Brad Marchand.
Kemppainen has one goal and three points in 24 games this season.
The Capitals will give this one to Holtby. And for obvious reasons. Along with the aforementioned 14 goals against in just 10 career head-to-heads with the Bruins, Holtby has eight wins (three shutouts) and a .954 save percentage against the club. Holtby was named the Second Star of December by the NHL for an impressive month headlined by nine wins and a .947 in 11 games played, but took the loss in his first start of the new year, a 25-of-29 shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jan. 2.
Boston counters with Tuukka Rask. The 28-year-old Rask took a rough looking 25-of-30 loss in the Winter Classic, but was actually probably one of two or three Bruins you could actually say showed up for that game. Still, Rask’s career line against the Caps is rough, with just one win and an .896 save percentage in 11 career games, along with a 27-of-30 loss in his last start. There’s optimism in Rask’s game of late, though, with the Finnish netminder coming into tonight’s tilt with six wins and a .937 save percentage over his last nine games in net.
- Boston forward Matt Beleskey has four goals and one assist in his last four games.
- Torey Krug has been held without a point in seven of the last eight games.
- B’s winger Loui Eriksson has two goals and six points in 12 career games against the Caps.
- Washington captain Alex Ovechkin has 17 goals and 37 points in 37 career games against the Bruins, including an impressive 10 goals and 19 points in 18 career games at TD Garden.
- The Capitals’ power play ranks 8th in the league on the road (22.4%).
Other news and notes
Here’s something weird: David Pastrnak, loaned to the Czech Republic for the World Junior Championships, returned to North America yesterday, and was immediately sent down to the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League. It could mean nothing (the Bruins are at 23 on their roster with Kemppainen activated) and Pastrnak could be back tomorrow (that’d likely put Max Talbot on a line back down to Providence), or it could mean that the B’s want Pastrnak to get his legs back first.
“I’m going to reevaluate after tonight’s game,… B’s general manager Don Sweeney said. “Again, a lot of it’s performance based, where our own roster here is, and then Brad [Marchand] comes back for the Ottawa game — he’ll miss one more — so we’re just sort of looking to see where our club is, first and foremost, and David will factor into that going forward.…
Although his ice time has been limited over the last near two months, this is a Bruins club that could desperately use Pastrnak's game-changing creativity and speed on the wing, so I'd expect him to be back with the club for this upcoming road swing.
The 19-year-old has scored two goals and four points in 10 games with the Big B’s this year, and recorded one assist in a two-game conditioning stint with the P-Bruins prior to the WJCs in Finland.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Boston Chapter of the Pro Hockey Writers Association since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.