A low-event game highlighted a recurring issue that Boston has had to deal with that laid them low against Washington
And things started so well, too.
1st Period:
The Bruins started the scoring with an incredibly fortuitous bounce from Parker Wotherspoon lobbing the puck up-ice, which bounced off a stanchion, off of Logan Thompson’s pad, and directly to Justin Brazeau, who tucked it behind Thompson to get the B’s up 1-0!
Nothing like a little weird scorin’.
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t stay this way, as just over mid-way through the period, the Bruins would be caught in their own end, with Pierre-Luc Dubois avoiding contact in order to feed the puck out to Aliaksei Protas, who evened things up at 1-1.
Then, as the period wound down, the Bruins found themselves on the Penalty Kill, which allowed Jakob Chychrun a chance to rip a shot past Swayman to get the Caps up on top, 2-1.
2nd Period:
No scoring happened here, much to the chagrin of B’s fans watching them fall behind in shots again and struggling to generate a truly dangerous chance.
Onto the third.
3rd Period:
In spite of their efforts, Boston failed to truly capitalize on Washington, and with the net empty, the Caps truly put this one away by springing Aliaksei Protas for an Empty Netter.
Thus, a frustrating, truly agonizing effort ends with the Bruins limping away from this one with a 3-1 loss.
Game Notes
- Your TOI Leader was Charlie McAvoy, who played 23:29.
- This game was frustration incarnate. The Bruins mostly outplayed the Caps at even-strength, by a lot. Had the Bruins any real ability to finish? I think they could’ve easily won this game. They did everything that you probably should to win this game…it just came down to a power play goal, and their inability to meet the Caps at that 2nd goal. Oh, they tried! Don’t you worry, they tried…they just couldn’t get that 2nd goal which could’ve solved a lot of what was ailing them.
- Yet another deeply frustrating night for members of the B’s defense; particularly Brandon Carlo and Mason Lohrei. Lohrei’s been getting routinely walked by opposing forechecks and was the only Bruin tonight with bad possession numbers. Carlo meanwhile spent a good portion of this game struggling to use his physicality to actually stop forecheckers, leading to multiple chances (and in one extremely annoying case; a goal) for the Caps.
- It was a frustrating night for special teams; which surrendered a game-deciding goal in the first period, and didn’t capitalize on the power play chances given by Washington.
- It was a frustrating night for David Pastrnak, who once again led the team in shots and came away with no goals. For the people who still believe the Giveaway stat is somehow not being inconsistently and incorrectly applied, he didn’t even lead the team in that this game.
- Another deeply frustrating night for the depth who could not summon the wherewithal to score in their stars’ absence, with the exception of Brazeau, who deserves credit for being johnny on the spot on an extremely odd bounce.
- It was a frustrating night for Jeremy Swayman, because yes he gave up two goals, but he finished the night with a .923 SV%. You should be able to win a hockey game with that kind of effort.
- And it’s frustrating more than anything that this keeps happening against the league’s stronger teams; they aren’t nearly as bad as they seem to be (except when they are), and they keep losing with the same problems raising their ugly heads every time. Sure, this might be who they are deep down if you look at how their possession has stagnated over the last year, but they can be better than this.
- Thank goodness they’re playing the Rangers next. That oughta fix things.
The B’s continue their little road trip by heading to Manhattan, where they will take on the New York Rangers on Thursday evening. That game is on at 7pm EST.
We’ll see you there.