Boston Bruins

The Capitals got goals from Nicklas Backstrom and Garnet Hathaway to dump the Bruins, 2-1, in Boston.

Winger Garnet Hathaway extended the lead to 2-0 at 11:40 of the second after capitalizing on a turnover and sending a wrister past the shoulder of Swayman — with the puck nicking the crossbar on its way in — despite absorbing a crushing hit from Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton. You can see that in the urgency in our play,” Kuemper said. Kuemper used every tool at his disposal on his way to 27 saves, at times needing every inch of his 6-foot-5, 215-pound frame to keep the Bruins at bay, which included fully extending his stick to bat away a deflection by Patrice Bergeron with just over six minutes left in the first. After making a save in the first, Kuemper withstood a swat at his pad by the Bruins’ Brad Marchand after the whistle had blown. But later, Kuemper used his blocker to bat away a knuckling puck from Hall during four-on-four play early in the third. Marchand and Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin locked horns numerous times, including midway through the third period, when both were whistled for penalties after a tussle. The Bruins entered the afternoon second in goals and first in goals against, and they had the league’s best penalty kill and a top-five power play. (This win pushed the Capitals into the first wild-card spot, one point in front of Pittsburgh, which played late Saturday.) Washington caught a break by not facing Linus Ullmark — the Bruins’ top goalie, who leads the NHL in wins and save percentage — but instead 24-year-old backup Jeremy Swayman, who has been solid but not on Ullmark’s all-star level. Yet Washington provided a blueprint for how it plans to make a postseason push: with bone-rattling physicality, structurally sound defense and opportunistic scoring. Coach Peter Laviolette had talked to his team about controlling the decibel level, especially because the sellout crowd fully expected the home team to continue a historic start. “The start was important.” “It’s going to be tight at the end.

Washington Capitals goalie Darcy Kuemper stood tall down the stretch and the Capitals beat a sluggish Boston Bruins squad 2-1.

[Brad Marchand](https://bostonhockeynow.com/2023/02/11/hagg-bag-boston-bruins-coming-out-of-the-break/) at 5:20 of the opening frame was absolutely ludicrous. As if that wasn’t bad enough for the Bruins, Charlie Coyle was whistled off for hooking four seconds later, and then 24 seconds later, Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm was sent to the box for interference. Marchand was digging at Capitals goalie Darcy Kuemper for a loose puck, and was cross-checked in the head from behind by Capitals center Evgeni Kuznetsov. While all three were questionable, the two-minute slashing call on Bruins winger BLACK EYE: As expected the Boston Bruins were rusty and out of sync in their first game back from the break and their first since a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. he stopped Bruins winger Taylor Hall early in the final frame and then did the same to Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron on a Bruins’ powerplay mid-way through the period.

Nicklas Backstrom and Garnet Hathaway each scored a goal and the Washington Capitals beat NHL-best Boston 2-1 on Saturday, sending the Bruins to just their ...

“I didn't think we had a bad game,” Marchand said. …. The Bruins wore their Winter Classic jerseys that they had on when they beat the Penguins in Fenway Park on Jan. “Coming off the break and not knowing what you're going to get, I thought we played a smart period. “We talked about it before (the game). “I really liked the start,” Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. That's probably the hardest building to win in this year.”

The Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins return from the All-Star break for a nationally televised game on Saturday.

The relentlessly fun hockey site, hopelessly devoted to the Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin. Our goal is to make hockey as fun about as it is to ...

The Capitals ended the game with the expected goals edge, 3.61 to 3.31. The goal came at the 16:34 mark. Hampus Lindholm punches NAK in the face after a whistle. The Capitals outshot the Bruins 9-7 and out-attempted them 16-15 at 5v5. The goal came at the 11:40 mark. The Bruins now lead in 5v5 shot attempts 28-27. The Bruins outshot the Capitals 11-4 in the period to take the overal shot on goal lead, 18-13. The Capitals still have a 1:17 minute five-on-four power play. The Capitals also [re-upped Dylan Strome](https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2023/02/03/capitals-re-sign-dylan-strome-to-five-year-contract/) and [Sonny Milano to longterm contracts](https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2023/02/04/capitals-re-sign-sonny-milano-to-three-year-extension-worth-1-9-million-per-season/). The Bruins power play ends early after Charlie Coyle hooks Lars Eller after a faceoff. Nicklas Backstrom scores on a rebound in front of the net. Evgeny Kuznetsov and Brad Marchand to the box for matching minors after some extracurriculars.

Here's what we learned from Boston's 2-1 setback on Saturday afternoon against Washington. See Boston.com.

And one can argue the Bruins benefitted from some of the questionable officiating decisions during their 82-game slate. And while Marchand wouldn’t ever stoop to laying the blame solely on any officiating crew, he couldn’t help but acknowledge the latest frustrating round of calls. “They called a really suspect call on Coyle early in the game. And an irked Marchand shared a rather unique term as he shared his thoughts on the officiating. The Bruins then had their power play negated four seconds later following a hooking call on Charlie Coyle. During that sequence, the veteran winger and 2006 third-round selection felt the brunt of an Evgeny Kuznetsov cross-check. And that’s the thing that concerns me about this game and a little bit of what we saw before the All-Star break.” With such a significant target following an otherworldly run, Patrice Bergeron and the battle-hardened Bruins expect difficulties. They’ll likely continue fighting for their playoff lives through the rest of the 2022-23 season. “You usually don’t score those highlight-reel goals come playoff time, and you don’t want to pass up the opportunity.” Yet, they developed a habit of passing up quality scoring chances, instead opting to make the perfect play. The Bruins have provided their fair share of highlight-reel markers throughout their torrid run through early February.

Boston falls to Washington, 2-1, in Saturday afternoon tilt at TD Garden.

""I think it's puck movement, we just have to make quicker decisions, but I didn't like our decisions with puck movement on breakouts and neutral zone counters and O-zone play," said Montgomery. "The one that comes to mind is [Charlie] Coyle on the back door, he tried to pass it back across…that's habits that we have to get back to. So, I think it doesn't sit well with anybody, and we've got a good chance to go on the road now and get together after a break and find our game and make sure we have that desperation." Those are just habits we have to reinforce and get back to." This is the type of game we're going to have, these 2-1 games, these tight games, and we're going to find ourselves on the right side of it. I thought as the game went on, it was definitely better, and we were getting better looks and better O-zone time."

The Boston Bruins lost a Saturday afternoon matinee matchup against the Washington Capitals. Nick Foligno scored the only goal for the Bruins.

The 1st was when Orlov was in the box for tripping David Krejci. This was Hathaway’s 9th goal of the season for the Capitals. There were two other power-plays in the 3rd period that were crucial for the Bruins. Backstrom was assisted by Marcus Johansson and Dmitry Orlov, and it was his 2nd goal of the season. Ovechkin also went into the box for high-sticking Brad Marchand in the middle of the period. That was Foligno’s 8th goal of the season for the Bruins.