The Bruins will face the Bruins for the third time in 17 days after playing them two additional times in the preseason. The Bruins just hope this meeting goes as well as the first two regular-season encounters, as Boston swept a home-and-home series with the Caps last month.
If the Bruins can beat Washington again on Friday, it will give them 16 points and match the club's best start through 10 games in franchise history. The Bruins have earned 16 points through 10 games four times before, the most recent being a 7-1-2 start in 1978-79 when Don Cherry was still behind the Bruins' bench.
When and Where
Boston Bruins (7-2-0, 14 points) at Washington Capitals (8-4-0, 16 points)
Nov. 5, 7 p.m. (NESN)
Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.
Head to Head
This is already the third meeting of the season between the Bruins and Capitals, with Boston sweeping a home-and-home series last month with a 3-1 win at Washington and a 4-1 win at the Garden. Boston was just 1-2-1 against Washington last year, but the Bruins still hold a 71-36-21-5 edge in the all-time series, including a 32-19-12-3 mark in Washington.
Goaltending Matchup
Tim Thomas became the first Bruin goalie ever to start a season 7-0-0 after beating Buffalo 5-2 on Wednesday. That was the first time he has allowed more than one goal this season, but he still leads the NHL with a 0.72 GAA, .977 save percentage and three shutouts. He stopped 73 of 75 shots in a pair of wins over Washington last month. Tuukka Rask has struggled a bit in limited action at 0-2-0, with a 3.54 GAA and .894 save percentage, but with the Bruins playing games on back-to-back nights, he is likely to get back into action either in this game or Saturday night at home against St. Louis.
For the Capitals, Michal Neuvirth has been the workhorse with Semyon Varlamov battling a groin injury. Neuvirth was the NHL Rookie of the Month for October and has an 8-3-0 record with a 2.31 GAA and a .920 save percentage, but was pulled after allowing two goals on seven shots against the Bruins on Oct. 19. Braden Holtby was recalled from Hershey (AHL) to back up Neuvirth on Oct. 25, but has yet to see any game action with the big club.
Stat Sheet
Bruins
- Nathan Horton is still tied for the team lead in both goals and points with 5-5-10 totals, but he has just one point in his last three games — a secondary assist on Milan Lucic's empty-net goal at Buffalo. He's also had just two shots in the last three games, after posting 5-4-9 totals with 15 shots in the first six games.
- Greg Campbell leads the Bruins with 26 penalty minutes. Eleven of those came in one game against Washington, with all of the infractions committed on Capitals forward Matt Hendricks. Campbell picked up five minutes for fighting Hendricks, two for tripping him and four for high-sticking him. Campbell does have just two penalty minutes in his last three games, but let's see if he can stay on his best behavior when lined up opposite Hendricks again.
- The Bruins have the best goal differential in the NHL at plus-16, having scored 29 goals and allowed just 13 through nine games. The team closest to them is Washington at plus-10, as the Caps have scored 39 goals and allowed 29 in 12 games.
Capitals
- Washington put its three top offensive stars together on the top line two games ago and the results have been impressive. Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom have combined for five goals and nine assists for 14 points in those two games.
- Ovechkin (7-8-15), Semin (7-6-13) and Backstrom (4-6-10) are Washington's leading scorers, but all three have been held without a point in the first two games against Boston this year.
- The Capitals have scored five power-play goals on eight chances in the last two games after managing just four power-play goals on 38 opportunities in their first 10 games. That included five straight games without a power-play goal despite 16 chances with the man advantage in that span, which immediately preceded their current outburst in the last two games.
Infirmary Report
Bruins
- Defenseman Johnny Boychuk (fractured left forearm) is expected to miss another three weeks.
- Center Marc Savard (post-concussion syndrome) is out indefinitely.
- Left wing Marco Sturm (knee surgery) is expected to be out until at least late November.
- Center Trent Whitfield (ruptures Achilles) could miss the entire year.
Capitals
- Defenseman Tom Poti (lower body) has missed the last five games and is on injured reserve.
- Goalie Semyon Varlamov (groin) has missed the last five games and is on injured reserve.
- Forward Marcus Johansson (hip flexor) has missed the last five games, but may return on Friday.
- Defenseman Tyler Sloan (hip flexor) missed the last game, but is probable for Friday.
Familiar Faces
Forward Mike Knuble had a successful run with the Bruins from 2000-04, seeing time on the top line with Joe Thornton and Glen Murray. Hendricks never made it up to Boston, but did play the 2007-08 season in Providence before being traded to Colorado for Boychuk. Defenseman Poti hails from Worcester, Mass., and played at Boston University, while fellow blueliner John Carlson was born in Natick, Mass.
Fight Card
The Capitals had just 20 fighting majors all of last year but already have nine in 12 games this season, including two against the Bruins in their first matchup. Hendricks leads the Caps with three fighting majors, while heavyweight D.J. King has two and Matt Bradley, Mike Green, Jason Chimera and John Erskine each have one. Hendricks has taken on Boston's Campbell in both the preseason and regular season, while Erskine fought Lucic in the first game in Washington, as Lucic earned the Gordie Howe Hat Trick that night. King also took on Shawn Thornton in the preseason. The Bruins are still averaging a fight a game with nine fighting majors through nine games. Campbell, Lucic and Mark Stuart each have two fighting majors, while Thornton, Horton and Dennis Seidenberg each have one.
Outlook
The Bruins will look to push their winning streak to four games and stay perfect on the road, where they are 5-0-0 so far this season. Washington is no pushover at home, where the reigning Presidents' Trophy winners were an NHL-best 30-5-3 last season and are 5-1-0 this year, though that one loss is to the Bruins. The Bruins haven't posted three wins in regulation in the same season against Washington since 1998-99, and the Capitals haven't suffered three regulation losses in one season to any non-division opponent since Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach in 2007.
The Bruins have been making history throughout their stellar start to the season, and one more win on Friday would add a few more footnotes to that memorable start, both to Boston's enjoyment and at Washington's expense.
