For the Boston Bruins to beat the Washington Capitals, at some point they’ll need to beat Braden Holtby. The rookie goalie has averaged more than 35 saves per night in his first four playoff games, including a dominating 44-save night Thursday that powered the Capitals to a 2-1 victory at the Verizon Center, evening the series at 2-2.

And with every stick-side deflection, glove-side save or body-block, Holtby’s confidence just climbs higher.

A confident Holtby means trouble for the Bruins, no matter how many more shots they take.

Holtby Shuts Out Off-Target Bruins in Second and Third

The Bruins out-shot the Capitals in every period Thursday, posting double-digit advantages in the first and third. The Bruins fired from the crease, the circles and the blue line. They tried redirects, wrap-arounds and rebounds. But no matter what they tried, Holtby and the Capitals defense blanked the Bruins over the final two periods.

Tyler Seguin nearly scored four minutes into the second on a 2-on-1, but Holtby skated out of the goal and stonewalled him. Brad Marchand had a similar 3-on-2 opportunity soon after, but again the Bruins came up empty. And Seguin corralled a deflection later in the second but again couldn’t settle the puck for a shot.

Boston’s lack of clean passes hurt the team more and more as the game went on. Pucks started bouncing instead of gliding, hitting their targets’ skates or sailing too far away from their sticks. Such errors really hurt the Bruins midway through the third, when a holding call against right winger Mike Knuble gave the Bruins their first power play.

The Bruins couldn’t get one puck on goal during those two minutes, looking completely out of sorts. Four games into the series, the Bruins still haven’t scored a power play goal.

Bad passing again cost the Bruins in the final minutes of the game. Tim Thomas (two goals on 19 saves) exited with about two minutes left, but the Bruins never set up a quality scoring chance with the man-advantage. Their first shot came with only 30 seconds remaining, and no shot got all the way through to Holtby.

Crisper passing might have translated into a few more scoring chances. And in hockey, every moment the puck stays in the offensive zone tires the defense and increases the chance to score a bit more.

Semin Second-Period Power Play Goal Breaks Tie

The Capitals went on the power play three times to the Bruins’ one Monday. The Bruins easily killed off the first penalty, then forced Thomas to make five saves in the second. The Bruins killed that second penalty as well, but the sudden offensive production re-energized the Capitals, who’d managed just eight shots on goal in the first 30 minutes of play.

The Bruins went back on the attack following the second penalty kill, trying to establish a presence in the crease to screen Holtby and set up for a possible second-chance shot. Such a chance arose when Zdeno Chara fired from 55 feet away, but in the ensuing scrum in front of the net Capitals center Brooks Laich‘s stick came out of his hands. Patrice Bergeron may have knocked it loose while fighting for the puck, and the officials sent him off for hooking at 17:53 in the second.

The Bruins couldn’t turn back the Capitals a third time, as Keith Aucoin and Alex Ovechkin worked the puck around the perimeter to Alexander Semin in the left circle. Semin ripped a snapshot past Thomas, pegging the top-right corner of the goal for a 2-1 lead and the eventual game-winner at 18:43.

Capitals Score First, Bruins Answer

Washington took an early 1-0 lead when Andrew Ference fell down in the neutral zone, setting up a 2-on-1 with Laich and Marcus Johansson. Laich brought the puck straight towards Thomas before passing to Johansson just outside the crease. Johansson easily scored for a 1-0 Capitals lead just 1:22 into the game.

Matching Ference’s tumble, Ovechkin fell down in the Bruins’ zone with just under seven minutes left in the first. Gregory Campbell grabbed the loose puck and fed it to Rich Peverley in the neutral zone, setting up a 2-0n-1 with Daniel Paille.

As Peverley brought the puck to the right offensive circle, John Erskine dove to the ice to try and block the shot. Peverley held the puck an extra second, then fired through Holtby’s pads to tie the game 1-1 at 13:12.

Hopefully, whatever Peverley learned about Holtby on that play gets shared with the rest of the team before Saturday’s Game 5 at the TD Garden.

© Matt Goisman for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

The two visited the National Geographic’s new Titanic exhibit…

(Image from Bruins on Facebook)

© KC Downey for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Now!.

After two overtime thrillers began the first round series between the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals, Game 3 followed suit with an exciting finish. But this one finished in regulation thanks to a big shot by Zdeno Chara that gave the Bruins a 4-3 win and a 2-1 lead in the series.

With under two minutes remaining in a game that seemed destined to continue the overtime trend in the series, Chara fired a long distance shot which appeared to deflect past Washington goaltender Braden Holtby, who had been stellar in the series to this point but was again matched by the efforts of Tim Thomas.

Back-and-Forth Tilt

Thomas had 29 saves and the opportunity to preserve a 3-2 lead with about six minutes remaining, but Brooks Laich scored Washington’s third goal to tie the game. Their other goals came from Alexander Semin on the power play in the first period and Alex Ovechkin less than a minute into the second. The Bruins were playing catch up for the majority of the contest.

Rich Peverley scored the first Boston goal at the start of the second period to momentarily tie the game 1-1 until Ovechkin’s came seconds later. Later in the period Daniel Paille knotted things up again with a 2-2 score. Brian Rolston added the third goal for the B’s at the beginning of the third period.

The game was huge for the Bruins as it is a potential momentum builder in the series. They now have a 2-1 lead and they’ve proven victorious in Washington, where Game 4 will be held on Thursday.

© Matthew Bond for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | One comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

It was a statistically meaningless game, but that didn’t stop the Bruins from pulling out the stops, especially late, to build up some needed momentum going into the postseason. Everything started out so close; in fact each team had 12 shots in a scoreless 1st period. Boston started to pick things up later on, especially limiting Buffalo in the 2nd. The Bruins took the lead shortly into the period.

However, despite being limited to five 2nd Period shots, Buffalo managed to keep Boston from going up by multiple goals while waiting patiently for their chance. That chance came late in the period, when a wrist shot was tapped past Tim Thomas for the tie.

Buffalo kept their fortune going in the 3rd, scoring twice more in quick succession towards the middle of the period. However, Boston had seen enough at that point. They turned up the pressure, really coming at Buffalo. Taking advantage of Ryan Miller’s day off, Boston put two shots into the net within minutes afterwards to bring the game back into a tie. With both goalies doing well in the shootout, Patrice Bergeron put in the only extra goal to give Boston the win.

Scoring Summary

Penalty Summary

Goalie Stats

Shots on Goal

Boston Faces Washington With…

• Washington win AND
• Florida Win or OT/SO loss

Boston Faces Ottawa With…

• Washington loss OR
• Florida regulation loss

© John for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

The Boston Bruins have now won four of their last five games, ending the west coast trip with a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. The Bruins have now opened up a five point lead over Ottawa and still have a game in hand.

Marty Turco recorded his first win since February 1st of 2011 Sunday night. After a slow first period the Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second. In games where the Bruins led by two at any point they have a record of 35-0-0.  Future hall of famer Teemu Selanne scored a power play goal in the second cutting the lead in half. The third line powered the Bruins to a win with two goals. The lamp behind Turco did light up three times, but the Ducks had a goal removed on a phantom goalie interference call.

Peverley Returns, Third Line Shines Again

Rich Peverley made his return to the Bruins line up against the Ducks as expected. Peverley skated well he logged almost 17 minutes of ice time and skated with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.

Beniot Pouliot, Chris Kelly, and Brian Rolston are by far the hottest line on the team and have developed some great chemistry. Pouliot and Rolston scored goals and Kelly assisted on both. All three players had points on both goals. Kelly is now on a five game point streak and Rolston is on a six game streak. What a job by Peter Chiarelli getting Rolston for virtually nothing.

Zdeno Chara scored his 12th goal of the year in game number 1001 of his career. Came on a wrist shot from the point not the feared slap shot, but just as effective if it’s on net.

Turco Time!

Turco played well for all three periods making 25 saves on 27 shots. His toughest test was the third period where the Ducks out shot the Bruins 14 to 7, and at one point had nine straight on Turco.

This win could give Turco and his new pads some confidence and Tim Thomas could finally get some rest before the playoffs.

© Bobby Doherty for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

There had been some signs that the Bruins had gotten past the roughest stretch of the season. They may be past that point still and Thursday night’s game was just a bad game. The Sharks scored first and went on to win 2-1. The Bruins only had 17 shots on goal, a season low. Tim Thomas played well in his 14th straight appearance, but didn’t get enough support from the offense to come out with any points.

The west coast trip continues with a game against the Kings on Saturday.

Almost no offense from the top guns

Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, and Tyler Seguin finished the game with a combined zero shots on goal. That is absolutely unacceptable, arguably the top three forwards on this team need to be better.

There was some line juggling again that had Seguin back with Krejci and Milan Lucic, that line was on the ice for Daniel Winnik’s game winning goal in the third period. This trio just can’t get it done on defense, between Lucic and Krejci there isn’t enough speed to back check consistently and get back into plays.

Zdeno Chara scored the only Bruins goal on a true goal scorer’s goal. From no angle behind the net, Chara banked the puck off of Anti Niemi, who was sprawled out on the ice. The Bruins had four minutes left to try to tie it up and didn’t really get much more pressure on the Sharks from that point.

Thomas plays in 14 straight

Thomas playing this much is not what the Bruins had in mind heading towards the playoffs. Once the Bruins can clinch the division, Thomas probably wont play again until Game 1 of the playoffs.

Thomas made 25 saves and played well enough for the Bruins to get some points. The once scary thing about Thomas recently has been that he hasn’t been making the big save when the Bruins need it most. The Sharks’ second goal came early in the third period, but had been right after a few good shifts for the Bruins.

Getting down a goal early with no fight coming soon after is the start of a rough game for the Bruins.

© Bobby Doherty for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

The Bruins have owned the Maple Leafs all season and Monday night was no different. Four first period goals powered the Bruins past the Leafs with a 8-0 final score. Fourteen Bruins skaters ended the game with at least one point. Tim Thomas needed only 13 saves to earn a shutout (he saw only two shots in the first period).

All four lines played at a high level for all three periods in this one.

Let’s see if this game helps the Bruins gain momentum heading towards the playoffs with only ten games left in the regular season.

Offense produces early and often

Chris Kelly started off the goal scoring early in the first just like he did against the Flyers on Saturday. Gregory Campbell, Benoit Pouliot, and Brad Marchand added first period goals, forcing James Reimer out of the game. Marchand’s goal coming on the power play on a sweet cross ice pass from Tyler Seguin.

Pouliot scored his second of the game in the second period. Zdeno Chara and Brian Rolston lit the lamp on bombs that easily beat the Leafs’ second goalie of the night in Jonas Gustavsson. Chara’s goal came on the man advantage, the Bruins were perfect on the power play (two for two). Rolston easily had his best game of the year with four points, showing that the third line is really coming together with a trio of lefties.

The only goal in the third period came from Seguin. He scored on another one-timer that is slowly becoming one of his best scoring weapons, very similar to Hart trophy candidate Steven Stamkos.

Somewhat of a day off for Thomas

Thomas has been playing a lot more than expected of late, but warming up Monday night might have been his toughest task. The Bruins dominated the entire game right from the opening puck drop. Only 13 saves were needed from Thomas to not only get two points, but a shutout.

The Leafs never really tested Thomas and that might be a good thing for him. The Bruins are about to take off on a west coast trip and a fresh Thomas could mean good things for this team.

Bad blood

Milan Lucic and Mike Komisarek dropped the gloves once again. Lucic handled Komisarek just like the old days when he was with the Habs. Lucic nailed him with a handful of uppercuts and even landed a few body shots.

It was easy to see the build-up to the fight with a little something extra after a clean check.

© Bobby Doherty for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

The horrid losing streak is finally over thanks to a 3-2 shootout victory over Philadelphia, but Philly still nearly pulled out an impressive victory. And with Boston so used to giving up the first two goals lately, it was refreshing to actually see Boston get on the board first for a change, thanks to Chris Kelly putting in a rebound at the 6:23 mark. Tim Thomas even made a great save when Jaromir Jagr made it through on a 1-on-0 breakaway. Later on, the Bruins padded their lead to 2-0 when Tyler Seguin took a pass point blank from behind the net and put the puck past Ilya Bryzgalov.

However, the Bruins couldn’t seal away the win, despite coming on strong. Philadelphia stepped up their defense for the rest of the game, not allowing Boston many chances. At the same time, they kept the pressure on Boston to makes stops, and clawed their way back into game with a tip-in midway through the 2nd Period and a second tip-in with 4:17 left in regulation.

Both teams did well in overtime, with each failing to provide a real threat on a chance at the period’s end. And with the skill sets of both goalies, you’d think the shootout would have been more interesting, but it was like two empty nets facing down shots. Boston put all three shots past perhaps the best goalie in the league right now, and Thomas finally managed to push one aside on Philadelphia’s third attempt to get Boston a long-awaited win.

JERRY!! JERRY!! Moment of the Game:

Without question, it has to be the 2nd Period fight. Well, it was more like Johnny Boychuk just outright slaughtering Maxime Talbot and throwing him to the ice with no resistance.

Coach’s Corner:

“We did a great job carrying the play today.” – Head Coach Claude Julien on the day’s performance, especially holding off Philadelphia’s comeback attempt.

Scoring Summary:

Penalty Summary:

Goalie Stats:

Shots on Goal:

Game Notes:

• Boston is now 27-0-0 when leading at the 2nd Intermission.
• They’re also 15-0-0 in games where Chris Kelly scores a goal.
• Philadelphia is now 4-10-1 in day games this season; Boston is 5-8-2.
• A happy 33rd birthday to Andrew Ference.
• A happy 35th birthday to Zdeno Chara this Sunday.
• For the time being, Boston is back ahead of Ottawa (85-84), which hosts Toronto at 7:00pm.

© John for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

Maybe three consecutive victories is just a little too much to ask for from the Boston Bruins. On Saturday the first attempt at that feat in 2012 came up short, as the banged up team suffered a 4-3 loss to the Washington Capitals.

1st Period

There wasn’t a great feel in at the TD Garden from the start of the action on Saturday afternoon, as the Bruins lacked energy early on. The Capitals took advantage, with Alexander Semin finishing up a rebound past goaltender Tim Thomas for the 1-0 lead. But before the Bruins could take a breath to respond, the Capitals followed it up with a second goal 25 seconds later.

The latter came from Matt Hendricks who stayed with the puck, swatting two rebound attempts to put Boston in an early 2-0 hole. After a big hit from Zdeno Chara on Marcus Johansson, some life found it’s way into the Bruins as they began playing significantly harder.

Still Boston looked destined for the 2-0 hole to hold as the period was coming to a close, but a face off with seconds remaining changed everything. Milan Lucic fired a shot from the left past Tomas Vokoun, cutting the lead in half heading for intermission.

2nd Period

It seemed like momentum was on the Bruins side early on especially after the dramatic conclusion to the first period. Boston tied the game 2-2 five minutes into play when Brad Marchand scored the equalizer.

However sloppy play changed the flow of the game and the B’s chances at a victory. Adam McQuaid stumbled around the net causing a dangerous turnover, and Washington capitalized as Jay Beagle was left alone in front, scoring and giving the Caps the 3-2 lead.

Brooks Laich added a fourth goal for the Capitals on a nice deflection past Thomas, as Washington reestablished their original two goal lead.

3rd Period

Things were quiet as the third got underway, Bruins fans mostly silent due to the struggles of the team to that point. However the team played well in their best attempt at a rally.

After dominating over half of the period without anything to show for it, Johnny Boychuk gave the Bruins some late hope. He broke through the wall that was Vokoun to get the B’s within one of a tie with just over three minutes remaining.

However late efforts weren’t enough against the clock, as the Bruins couldn’t finish the comeback and lost to the highly motivated, who are trying to hang on for their playoff lives. Tomorrow the Bruins travel to take on the Penguins in Pittsburgh as they look to try again to start a winning streak.

© Matthew Bond for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

The Boston Bruins have rarely played “complete” hockey over the last two months, alternating losses with frustrating, indecisive victories. And on those few occasions when they submitted a complete game, they never followed it with a second.

No more.

The Bruins capitalized on two goals in the final period Thursday night at TD Garden, beating the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1. The Bruins have now won two in a row for the first time since Jan. 10 and 12.

Boychuk, Bruins Finish Game in Style

The Bruins came out of the second intermission playing confident, aggressive hockey. They dominated the opening two minutes of the third, firing five times at Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth and forcing him to make two saves. Enroth survived the early scare, but his team could do little to give him any breathing room, with the Bruins defense’s back-pressure limiting the speedy Sabres’ scoring opportunities and man-advantages.

The Bruins played an incredibly physical game, out-hitting the Sabres 30-23, including 12-7 in the third. The biggest hit came from Johnny Boychuk, who midway through the period leveled left winger Thomas Vanek with a completely clean, open-ice check just inside the Sabres’ zone.

As a reward for his Garden-energizing hit, Boychuk scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with just over seven minutes left in the game. Jordan Caron began the sequence with a takeaway in the Sabres’ zone, forcing defenseman Jordan Leopold to dive to block Caron’s shot.

Leopold blocked the puck with his stick, but the puck slid to an awaiting Boychuk in the right circle. Boychuk ripped a slapshot just under the crossbar for the 2-1 lead. Caron got the assist on Boychuck’s first goal since early December.

The goal briefly aroused the Sabres’ slowed-down offense, leading to two shots at Tim Thomas in two seconds. But the Sabres failed to tie the game, and Zdeno Chara took momentum back with some nifty stick-handling, weaving the puck around several Sabres before finding Tyler Seguin just outside the blue line.

Seguin fed the puck up to Milan Lucic, who took the puck to the Buffalo left circle before threading a pass to David Krejci in the slot. Krejci drifted just to the right of the goal before lifting his shot just under the crossbar for a 3-1 lead at 15:54. Both Lucic and Seguin earned assists.

The Sabres tried once more to get back in the game, even pulling Enroth with just over two minutes left, but Thomas saved anything that got through to him. He finished with 19 saves in 20 attempts.

Caron nearly added an empty-net goal late in the game, but his shot sailed above the goal. In his last three games, Caron has scored three goals and recorded three assists.

Sabres Score in First, Bruins Tie in Second

Despite the Bruins dominating the first period, out-performing the Sabres in shots (13-6), hits (9-5) and faceoffs (13-6), the Sabres scored first. Right winger Jason Pominville received the puck in the neutral zone from Vanek, then took it across the blue line.

Chara may have been trying to angle Pominville to the side to protect against a 2-on-1, but instead Pominville just skated into the Bruins’ right circle and ripped a slapshot above Thomas’ glove for the 1-0 lead at 16:39 in the first period.

For much of the second period, the Bruins couldn’t capitalize on any of several scoring opportunities. Enroth saved a shot against Lane MacDermid two minutes in, then just over nine minutes in denied Seguin on the kind of breakaway Seguin normally buries with style. When Dennis Seidenberg‘s slapshot from 55 feet ringed off the goalpost, it looked like the Bruins might fall victim to a fluke performance from Enroth, who in his previous 10 games had gone 0-7-2 with a GAA over 3.00.

That all changed with two minutes to go, when a pass from Sabre defenseman Christian Ehrhoff in his right circle kicked off Cody Hodgson‘s skate in the high slot. The puck slid to Shawn Thornton, who immediately ripped a shot at Enroth.

Gregory Campbell – whose forechecking on Ehrhoff led to the bad pass – brought raised his stick and redirected the shot midair above Enroth’s glove to tie the game 1-1.

With the streak of games without consecutive wins finally over, hopefully the Bruins can either finally start chipping away at the Rangers’ eight-point lead atop the Eastern Conference, or at least put some real distance between themselves and the Senators in the race for the Northeast Division. Boston returns to the ice Saturday afternoon against Washington.

© Matt Goisman for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.