Not too many positives out of this one, other than the fact that it won’t count in the the standings and everyone appeared to make it through healthy, as Wheeler returned after a scare in the second period.
Third Period, 15:43, Capitals 4-1: The Bruins just announced the attendance for this one at 14,916 at the Garden.
The Bruins are running out of time to send them home happy, but they can at least try to build something positive in the closing minutes before heading off to Belfast after the game.
Third Period, 12:20, Capitals 4-1: Washington’s Backstrom bids for the hat trick with a shot from the right circle.
Thomas had to check behind him, but he makes the save.
Just a couple shifts before that, Thomas also stopped Bradley as the Caps’ forward crashed the net hard. Thomas seems to have settled down a bit after a rough patch early in the third.
Third Period, 8:45, Capitals 4-1: The B’s finally break through, as Mark Recchi scores on the power play.
Just seconds after Ryder clanged one off the post, Recchi chips in a loose puck from a scramble in front to break the shutout.
Bergeron and Ryder pick up the assists for the Bruins.
Third Period, 7:26, Capitals 4-0: The B’s get a chance to at least get on the board as Washington’s Pinizzotto goes off for tripping.
The B’s are 0 for 4 with the man-advantage so far in this one.
Third Period, 7:17, Capitals 4-0: Thomas gets a Bronx cheer after tying up the pukc in the crease.
This certainly wasn’t the way he wanted to make his debut this season. WHile he ahsn’t had much chance on most of the goals, the overall effect is looking a lot like his struggles from last year.
Third Period, 6:03, Capitals 4-0: This one is now officially ugly, as the Caps push the lead to 4-0.
Matt Bradley does the honors here with an easy tap-in from the top of thecrease off a nice feed from behind the net by Boyd Gordon.
Third Period, 3:41, Capitals 3-0: The Bruins certainly aren’t helping themselves get back in this one, as they now have to kill off a tripping penalty to Ference.
Third Period, 2:30, Capitals 3-0: And this one is getting out of hand, as Andrew Gordon bangs home a rebound.
Thomas made the initial sprawling save on Chimera, but no one picked up Gordon in the right slot and Thomas couldn’t get back to stop the second bid. Tyler Sloan gets the other assist.
Third Period, 1:35, Capitals 2-0: The Bruins had a few quality chances in front as the Bergeron line creates a nice threat.
Bergeron, Caron and Recchi all had whacks at it in close, but can’t get it to go in.
Third Period, 0:00, Capitals 2-0: Wheeler is on the bench to start the third period, so that is a good sign that he hopefully avoided any serious injury.
End Second Period, Capitals 2-0: The Bruins will face a big uphill battle in the third as they now trail by two goals, but the bigger concern is the status of Blake Wheeler.
The Bruins forward went to the locker room late in the second after an awkward tumble on a bid around the net. There’s no word yet on his condition.
The Bruins had start to put together a better effort in the middle frame following a string of Washington penalties, but they couldn’t convert on the power plays and Washington countered with Backstrom’s second tally of the night.
This has been a bit of a disconcerting effort for Boston, considering that other than Backstrom the Capitals are resting all of their top stars.
There was some action after the whistle, with Chara jawing with Chimera and Jay Beagle, but no penalties were called so the sides will start the third at even strength.
Second Period, 18:23, Capitals 2-0: More bad news for the Bruins, as Blake Wheeler is upended on a bid in front off a feed from Seguin and crashes awkwardly into the boards.
He is very slow going to the bend and heads directly to the Bruins locker room. That would be a huge loss for the Bruins, who are already short-handed up front with Marc Savard and Marco Sturm sidelined.
Second Period, 17:08, Capitals 2-0: And the Bruins find themselves in a deeper hole, as Backstrom strikes again.
This time it was on a tip in front of a Nick Schultz shot from the left point. McGrattan was late getting out to the point man on the shot.
Carlson picks up the secondary assist.
Second Period, 15:40, Capitals 1-0: After the fight off the opening face-off, this hasn’t been an especially physical affair, but the Caps’ Pinizzotto just ramped up the intensity a bit with a huge hit on Ference along the boards to Thomas’ right.
We’ll see if the Bruins get get their own hitting game going, as they haven’t really done much of it yet in this one.
Second Period, 12:52, Capitals 1-0: Now it’s the Capitals turn, as Ryder gets sent off for holding. That kills the momentum the Bruins were building off taht last power-play effort.
The Capitals have also changed goalies, putting Braden Holtby in net. Former Bruin Dany Sabourin finishes having stopped all 12 shots he faced from his former club.
Second Period, 11:52, Capitals 1-0: The results were the same, but that was the only similarity between that power play and Boston’s earlier efforts.
They still didn’t score, but the B’s had much better movement, creating some good looks.
Horton clanged one off the near post from the left circle, while Bartkowski was denied from the slot pinching in between the circles. Chara later sent one in from the point that was deflected just wide.
Second Period, 9:52, Capitals 1-0: There was nothing doing on that power play, as the Bruins didn’t manage a shot on goal.
They did create some chances just after the sides were back even, forcing Washington to take enough penalty. This one is on Johansson for slashing.
Second Period, 7:32, Capitals 1-0: The Bruins will go right back on the power play.
Backstrom goes to the box this time for hooking, as the Bruins will have another chance to pull even.
Second Period, 7:15, Capitals 1-0: The Bruins created some chances, but couldn’t convert on the four-minute power play.
The power-play units used consisted of Krejci, Ryder and Recchi up front with Chara and Hunwick at the points, and Lucic, Horton and Bergeron up front with Boychuk and Bartkowski on the points.
Second Period, 3:15, Capitals 1-0:The Bruins will go on their first power play of the night, and it’s a four-minute advantage as Washington’s Steve Pinizzotto gets a double minor for high-sticking.
Second Period, 1:51, Capitals 1-0: The Bruins have come out with a little more jump to start the second.
David Krejci had a solid scoring cance from the left circle that Sabourin snuffed out.
Just before that, Chara had a strong shift, plastering Marcus Johansson into the boards, then blocking a shot out front.
End First Period, Capitals 1-0: The Bruins end the first 20 minutes trailing the Caps by a goal.
Neither team was able to get much going offensively, as Washington held a slim 6-5 edge in shots.
The Caps took advantage of their one golden scoring opportunity though, and Backstrom’s one-timer is the difference in this one.
First Period, 18:36, Capitals 1-0: The Bruins almost caught a break as Caps defenseman Brian Fahey broke his stick attempting a shot at the right point.
That led to a Bruins’ odd-man break, but Lucic’s blast from the left wing was deflected out of play.
First Period, 17:37, Capitals 1-0: The Bruins are spending way too much time in their own zone, as Washington is really carrying the play so far.
Mark Recchi just ended a long drought between shots with a bid off the rush for Boston, but the Bruins still have just three shots in nearly 18 minutes of play. Of course, the Caps only have six.
First Period, 14:43, Capitals 1-0: Thomas has a bit of an adventure behind his net, as he goes back to play a dump-in, only to have the ouck hop up onto the back of the cage.
The Caps get it free for a chance in front, but the Bruins eventually are able to clear it out of the zone.
First Period, 12:19, Capitals 1-0: The Bruins’ fourth line puts some pressure on the Caps, as Paille makes a steal down low, but he isn’t able to set up Campbell out front.
First Period, 10:28, Capitals 1-0: The Caps jumpout to an early lead as Nicklas Backstrom strikes from the slot.
It was a great pass out from the left corner by Jason Chimera, and Thomas had no chance as Backstrom one-timed it home.
The Caps are resting a lot of their offensive stars, but not all of them, and Backstrom is able to put Washington on the board.
First Period, 8:30, 0-0: The Bruins bail out McGrattan with a solid penalty kill. The Caps threatened a few times, but Thomas made a pair of stops to keep the game scoreless.
First Period, 6:30, 0-0: The Bruins get called for the first penalty of the night, as McGrattan gets sent off for hooking.
McGrattan has had a solid camp showing what he can do besides brawling, but penalties like that won’t help his cause in trying to earn a contract here.
First Period, 6:04, 0-0: There’s no TV for this one, but somehow we still have TV timeouts.
The crowd is starting to fill in at the Garden, though there’s still plenty of empty seats up top. The latecomers are going to regret not being on time when they find out there was a fight on the opening draw.
First Period, 4:12, 0-0: Caron showing both the cerativity and the power of his game on one shift.
He made a nice behind the back pass from the boards to spring Bergeron for a rush, then later drove hard to the net to set up shop for a possible rebound. It’s those little things that have kept the youngster up with the big club.
First Period, 0:02, 0-0: And off the opening face-off we have a bout, with Campbell and Hendricks trading punches at center ice two seconds into play.
Newcomer Campbell tries to endear himself to the Garden faithful, but Hendricks gets the jersey over his head and lands some solid uppercuts before the linesmen jump in. Not a bad way to get this one going.
First Period, 0:00, 0-0: The Bruins will open this one with the fourth line of Paille, Campbell and McGrattan, along with Ference and Boychuk on defense and Tim Thomas in goal.
This is Thomas’ first action of the preseason as he has been recovering from offseason hip surgery.
Washington counters with Matt Bradley, Boyd Gordon and Matt Hendricks up front, John Erskine and Karl Alzner on defense and Dany Sabourin in goal.
6:50 p.m.: The warmups have wrapped up at the Garden and it’s almost time for the action to get under way.
Based on the pre-game skate, here’s how the Bruins appear to be lining up for this one:
Forwards
Lucic-Krejci-Horton
Recchi-Bergeron-Caron
Wheeler-Seguin-Ryder
Paille-Campbell-McGrattan
Defense
Chara-Seidenberg
Ference-Boychuk
Hunwick-Bartkowski
Goalies
Thomas
Schaefer
Looks like Seguin will be back at center for this one, instead of playing on Bergeron’s wing. Bergeron gets the other impressive youngster still up with the big club on his right instead, as Caron will skate with Bergeron and Recchi. Seguin skates instead with Wheeler and Ryder. It will be interesting to see if Wheeler slides over to the middle at all in this one like he did on Tuesday when he flip-flopped with Joe Colborne during the game.
The Lucic-Krejci-Horton line remains intact. They showed flashes on Saturday and coach Claude Julien indicated he would give that combination some time to build some chemistry. If they can click, that should be a dangerous unit with a nice blend of size, skill and snarl.
5 p.m.: On Tuesday night in Washington, the Bruins rested many of their key veterans. The Capitals appear to be doing the same for the rematch at the Garden on Wednesday.
Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Mike Knuble, Brooks Laich, Mike Green and Tom Poti are among the Caps not listed on Washington’s lineup for this one.
The Capitals will have Nicklas Backstrom dressed, and there are several players with ties to the Bruins and New England expected to play. Dany Sabourin, who spent last seaosn in Providence, will start in goal, while another former Providence Bruin, Matt Hendricks, will be in the lineup. Hendricks, who the Bruins traded to Colorado for Johnny Boychuk in 2008, came to Washington’s camp as a tryout, but signed a one-year deal earlier this week.
Washington also has defenseman John Carlson, who was born in Natick, Mass., in the lineup for this one. Carlson had an evntful rookie year last season, splitting the year between Washington and its AHL affiliate in Hershey, while also finding time to score the game-winning goal for Team USA in overtime of the gold-medal game of the World Junior Championships.
2 p.m.: There’s still more than five hours until game time, but the Bruins have already had a busy day.
Players, coaches and front-office personnel all survived their media day duties this morning, though general manager Peter Chiarelli is already battling a cold. That should make for a fun cross-Atlantic flight.
At least he gets to go. Six Bruins won’t be so fortunate, as Joe Colborne, Zach Hamill, Steve Kampfer, Jeff LoVecchio, Jeremy Reich and Wyatt Smith were all assigned to Providence.
That leaves 25 players in camp, not including injured forwards Marc Savard, Marco Sturm and Trent Whitfield. The Bruins will take all 25 with them on the trip, but will have to make one more cut while in Europe. Chiarelli indicated he will start the season with the maximum 23 players on the roster. And they will also be allowed to carry a third goalie for the games in Prague.
As for Wednesday night’s rematch with the Capitals, the Bruins announced their roster, though they didn’t have a morning skate because of media day so we’ll have to wait to see the exact line combinations.
Playing will be forwards Patrice Bergeron, Greg Campbell, Jordan Caron, Nathan Horton, David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Brian McGrattan, Daniel Paille, Mark Recchi, Michael Ryder, Tyler Seguin and Blake Wheeler, defensemen Matt Bartkowski, Johnny Boychuk, Zdeno Chara, Andrew Ference, Matt Hunwick and Dennis Seidenberg, and goalies Nolan Schaefer and Tim Thomas. Thomas is expected to see his first action of the preseason in this one.
Brad Marchand, Adam McQuaid, Tuukka Rask, Mark Stuart and Shawn Thornton are the players remaining in camp who will not play in this game.
The Capitals have not finalized their roster for this game, but former Bruin Dany Sabourin is expected to get the start in goal.
8 a.m.: Take a nice long look at the Bruins Wednesday night if you can make it to the Garden, because they’ll be leaving the continent after the conclusion of this preseason tuneup against Washington.
After dropping a 3-2 decision to the Capitals in Washington on Tuesday, the Bruins will look to even things up in this one, and they’ll do it with a lineup much closer to their regular roster. Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Nathan Horton, Mark Recchi and Dennis Seidenberg were among the veterans who had Tuesday night off, but all of them should play in the rematch.
It also appears likely that Tim Thomas will make his long-awaited preseason debut in this one. Thomas has been working his way back from offseason hip surgery and has sat out the club’s first four exhibition games, but he hoped to return for this contest.
The game is just part of one very busy day for the Bruins, who will hold their media day in the morning, then fly to Northern Ireland after the game. The Bruins will continue their training camp on the other side of the pond with two more exhibition games in Belfast and the Czech Republic before opening the regular season with a pair of games against Phoenix in Prague. They won’t play at the Garden again until the home opener on Oct. 21.
So enjoy a close-up look at the B’s while you can, and check back throughout the day and during the contest for updates on all the action. The puck drops at 7 p.m.
