Hey, welcome back to TD Garden.
In their first home game since Feb. 8, the Boston Bruins will look to get back on track after a disappointing collapse in Buffalo on Wednesday night.
Playing host to the Washington Capitals (28-23-9) for the first time this season, the Black-and-Gold hope to put a meltdown at First Niagara Center behind them with the help of a home record featuring 23 wins in 31 contests this season.
"We should be ready to play hard every night, and that’s, you know, I keep saying that. We — if we’ve built that kind of a reputation for our team that teams get up for and we’re respected, then so be it," coach Claude Julien said this morning. "It should be taken in a positive manner versus a negative one. That’s what probably keeps us consistent, for the most part, and good. And I think we have to be ready for that. We’re playing a team today that we haven’t seen all year yet, and we know they’re — they can be pretty explosive if we don’t respect their offense."
Washington rolls into the Hub on the heels a 5-4 win over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. And they're led by captain Alexander Ovechkin, a player with 41 goals in just 60 games this year, and with 12 goals and 32 points in 30 career games against Boston.
In net, the Bruins will give the nod to Tuukka Rask. Making his first NHL start since Feb. 6 against St. Louis, Rask looks to continue to stone the opposition with the poise and focus he had for Team Finland en route to their Bronze Medal finish in Sochi.
Rask has 16 wins and a .938 save percentage in 24 home games this year, but enters play without a win and ugly 3.42 goals against average in five career games against the Caps.
Washington counters with Braden Holtby. Holtby stopped 30-of-34 against Florida in his last appearance, has 18 wins and a .912 in 36 games played this year, and is undefeated against Boston in his career (regular season only), posting a .930 vs. Boston.
On an injury note for Boston, Adam McQuaid remains out of the lineup (leg).
20:00 - Rene Rancourt wraps up the anthem and we're good to go. Caps and Bruins. First time this year. That seems strange here on March 1st, now doesn't it?
15:47 - Carl Soderberg sentenced to two minutes in the box. Holding the stick is the call. Boston heading to their first kill of the night.
13:40 - Strong kill from the B's. Rask was dialed in and made the big saves when the B's shorthanded grouping got hemmed into their own zone.
13:03 - Boston's heading to the power play here. Tom Wilson will take a seat, as will Jay Beagle. The Bruins are going to have a two-minute 5-on-3 power play here.
12:45 - Interesting set-up here: With the 5-on-3, the Bruins will go with Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara at the point, with Reilly Smith, David Krejci, and Jarome Iginla up front. Krejci and Smith are set up along half-wall, Iginla's in front, and Chara and Krug man the points.
11:00 - Caps kill off the 5-on-3. Boston struggled to get shots on net and generate positive momentum up ice. While he's done it for years, Chara has had a noticeably difficult time moving up ice this year on the man-advantage. He certainly prefers playing up front.
8:24 - Holtby nearly puts the puck in his own net off a wacky bounce off the Garden endboards. Shawn Thornton can't bang it in, and the Caps avoid a disaster of a first goal right there.
1:48 - Chris Kelly gets frustrated, blows his top. Takes an interference penalty. Caps back to the power play. They're 0-for-1 on the man-advantage today.
1:21 - Ovechkin. Power play. Bullet. Right in his sweet spot. His 42nd of the year, and it's 1-0, Caps. That's Ovechkin's first career goal against Rask.
That Ovechkin goal is an absolute killer for the Bruins. Though they finished the period out-shot 13-7, the Bruins were swarming Holtby and company in the Washington end, and could've had a goal (or maybe even two) if they could just get the puck on net.
For Boston, the points have done a great job of keeping the pressure up in the Caps' end.
Little chips and pokes have paved the way for second and third chance opportunities for the Boston wingers, but credit to the Caps, who for the most part, haven't let a Bruin skater get in Holtby's face too much.
Now the key for Boston is avoiding another second period meltdown.
19:13 - Boston heading back to the penalty kill here. Matt Bartkowski for a trip. Not the way you want to start the second period when you're down by one.
17:36 - Ovechkin, again. What a bullet. Again! 2-0, Caps. This guy's shot is on another planet. That's also career point No. 800 for Ovechkin. Whole lotta points from his first goal (which came back on Oct. 5, 2005 against Pascal Leclaire and the Columbus Blue Jackets) to now.
9:55 - This is one sleepy period for the Black-and-Gold. No second chance looks either, it's been one shot and then back the other way. They're just not able to jam away at Holtby or generate rebounds. I feel like I'm watching a hockey game in April 2012 over here...
9:46 - Make it 3-0, Caps. Joel Ward cuts right through the pairing of Bartkowski and Johnny Boychuk, dekes Rask out of his hockey pants, and backhands it home.
9:40 - Scary thought: That's your second defensive pairing if it starts today.
9:21 - Bruins to the power play. They need one here in the worst way.
9:06 - Patrice Bergeron pumps some life in the Garden, striking on the power play. That goal starts with a great move by Dougie Hamilton to establish some serious separation from the Caps and Bergeron. 17th goal of the year for Bergeron. 3-1.
6:08 - Boston's flyin' now. Hitting everything in sight, driving to the net.
5:49 - Another B's power play on the way. Brad Marchand draws a call. Eric Fehr will sit, and he's not too happy about it at all.
2:28 - How? Gregory Campbell -- falling down -- deflects the puck in. 3-2, Caps.
1:36 - Marchand's going to sit here. But not before he tries to get Washington to take an offsetting minor. No dice though. Caps back to the power play here.
1:31 - Wow, what a makeup call. Chara's stick breaks when he goes to play the puck, he starts barking at the referees for a slash, and he gets it! I don't think anybody was even close to touching his stick there. Goodness, what a break for the Bruins.
The Bruins are almost there. They just need one, and against the Caps, they can get it.
Washington's just two days removed from blowing a two-goal edge to the Florida Panthers, and there's no doubt that the B's have more offensive firepower in their pocket than the Panthers do on their entire roster. It also helps that Boston's getting a few hometown calls.
17:00 - Scoring change on Boston's second goal: It's now being credited to Shawn Thornton, not Campbell. Must've hit a Cap stick on way in.
14:53 - Boston penalty. Marchand whistle for a high stick on Dmitry Orlov. Looked like a bit of a soft one there. This has been a rough day for the boys in stripes. Decaf blues.
14:06 - Absolutely sick glove-save on Troy Brouwer by Rask.
13:20 - Rask gets tripped up playing the puck. No whistle. Crowd's irate. Saturday.
10:00 - Utterly insane: Holtby loses his stick on play and can't get it back, and with Bruins pressuring him, he takes his helmet off to stop play. How that's not a delay of game is absolutely beyond me. What a horribly officiated game on both sides right now. Caps and Bruins are able to sell these guys anything and everything right now.
9:07 - Fehr scores on a breakaway. 4-2, Caps. That's his 10th of the year.
3:54 - Washington back to the power play. Soderberg with the high stick on Mike Green. Barring a last-minute miracle, that should probably do it.
3:00 - Shorthanded break for Chris Kelly but he can't bury it.
1:51 - Clock issues, but the Bruins kill off the penalty.
1:10 - Bruins are offside. Clock is tickin'.
0.0 - Bruins lose, 4-2.