Bruins' lack of menace once again on display in win over Capitals ...

Photo Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

By Mike Cratty | Follow me on Twitter @Mike_Cratty

Home: Washington Capitals

Away: Boston Bruins

Boston’s Lineup

Forwards

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak

DeBrusk – Krejci – Kase

Ritchie – Coyle – Bjork

Nordstrom – Kuraly – Wagner

Defense

Chara – McAvoy

Krug – Carlo

Lauzon – Clifton

Goalies

Rask

Halak

Washington’s Lineup

Forwards

Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Wilson

Vrana – Backstrom – Oshie

Hagelin – Boyd – Kovalchuk

Panik – Dowd – Hathaway

Defense

Dillon – Orlov

Kempny – Fehervary

Siegenthaler – Jensen

Goalies

Holtby

Vanecek

First Period

This one got going in a pretty quiet fashion. The first power play came in the form of a holding call on Dmitry Orlov at the 6:26 mark. They couldn’t convert, bringing them to 0 for 8 on the power play in Round Robin play.

Tom Wilson and Connor Clifton got tied up along the boards, Clifton and Evgeny Kuznetsov then got tied up and each took a penalty – Clifton for slashing, Kuznetsov for cross-checking, creating a 4-on-4. Nothing came off the extra space on the ice. The Bruins held the Caps to just one shot on goal through the first 19 minutes of the period, while having six of their own. Unfortunately for the Bruins, the Caps made good on their second shot on goal, and took a one-goal lead thanks to T.J. Oshie.

Score: 1-0 Washington

Second Period

The Bruins saw an early power play come their way thanks to a hooking call on Ilya Kovalchuk at the 17:29 mark. Nothing going for the Bruins on the power play yet again. Brandon Carlo took the first Bruins penalty of the game on a hooking call at the 12:59 mark. Tuukka Rask stopped a couple of big, point-blank chances from Kuznetsov to keep the deficit at one. The Bruins went on to successfully kill the penalty.

It was just one of those days where the Bruins couldn’t buy a goal.

To make matters worse, Jake DeBrusk went off for holding the stick with 4:31 remaining in the period. They killed the penalty, but still trailed by one. It looked as if a tripping call on Nicklas Backstrom was going to give the Bruins a power play in the final ten seconds, but after looking at it again, the officials determined it wasn’t a penalty. The Caps outshot the Bruins 13 to 10 in the period, and the Bruins held a 16 to 15 advantage through the first two periods.

Score: 1-0 Washington

Third Period

Sean Kuraly and T.J. Oshie each took roughing penalties following the conclusion of the second period. Tom Wilson extended the lead to two just 2:49 into the period. Another 4-on-4 came from a tripping call on Charlie McAvoy and embellishment on Richard Panik. Nothing came out of the 4-on-4 for either team.

At last, DeBrusk got the Bruins on the board with 9:30 to go in the period. Ondrej Kase and David Krejci had the helpers. They finally had some life with plenty of time to even the score.

After winning the President’s Trophy, the Bruins end up with the four seed following a fourth straight loss. The Bruins held the advantage in shots, 15 to 10, and in the game 31 to 25. With the loss, the Carolina Hurricanes await the Bruins in the first round, looking to avenge being swept in the Eastern Conference Finals last season. The date and time of game one of the first round are TBD.

Final Score: 2-1 Washington

Check out the new Black N’ Gold Hockey Podcast episode 188 that we recorded below! You can find our show on many worldwide platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, SoundCloud, and Stitcher.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/869031904″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”300″ iframe=”true” /] User 568316199 · 188: Fun Boston Bruins Discussion As we Prepare For The 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB5a102phRY&w=853&h=480]