Final, Bruins 3-2: The Bruins have had their chances all night long, and they finally got a little luck to help cash in on one of them.
Matt Bartkowsk’s shot from the left point was deflected twice in front of the net. The carom eventually went right to Chris Kelly after the puck changed directions, and he he had a wide-open net to shoot into.
He didn’t miss it, and the Bruins win 3-2.
Overtime, 2:37, 2-2: Jarome Iginla is having himself a really nice game so far, and he continues to be effective here in overtime. He just generated a near scoring chance, but he had his shot blocked before it could get through.
Overtime, 0:18, 2-2: Overtime is underway. This is the Capitals’ fifth preseason game, and all have gone to overtime.
End third period, 2-2: Sixty minutes won’t be enough to settle this game. We’re on our way to overtime.
Third period, 17:26, 2-2: Tuukka Rask hasn’t gotten a lot of looks in this one — the Capitals just finally reached 10 shots on goal — but Rask just had one of his biggest saves of the night.
The Bruins goalie made a nice kick save on a Garrett Mitchell wrist shot from the right wing, as he came skating down the right side with a clear look. Rask has made an art of that save, and you can tell how comfortable he is with it by how often he’s able to not only stop the puck, but deflect it the other direction to start the transition.
Third period, 15:10, 2-2: The Bruins were able to kill off the Matt Bartkowski penalty, and they almost had a fantastic shorthanded chance.
Jarome Iginla looked to have a breakaway, but the breakout pass was just a little too far ahead of him. Either way, the Bruins were able to kill off the penalty.
Third period, 13:08, 2-2: Improbably, the Capitals are going on the power play with the chance to take the lead.
David Krejci got a little too cute with the puck at the top of the offensive zone, and he ended up turning over the puck. That led the Capitals on a 2-on-1 break out.
Kevan Miller did a great job of not overcommitting and ended up breaking up the play in front of the Boston net. However, Matt Bartkowski was guilty of a slash on his way back into the zone in an attempt to catch up to the play.
Third period, 10:00, 2-2: The Bruins are up 33 shots on goal, but they have very little to show for it. They’ve outshot Washington 33-7 and we’re looking at a 2-2 game midway through the third period.
Third period, 6:38, 2-2: The Capitals have been outplayed pretty much the entire night, but they have somehow tied the game.
Martin Erat just jammed a puck in after a mad scramble in front of the Bruins’ net, and he just barely got the puck over the goal line.
Despite only having registered seven shots on goal, the Caps have tied this game 2-2.
Third period, 0:52, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins made the Capitals pay in a big way for Washington’s role in the fights to open the period.
With Boston on a 5-on-3, Chara blasted a shot from the right point by Braden Holtby for the defenseman’s second power-play tally of the game.
Third period, 0:11, 1-1: There has been no shortage of fisticuffs through two periods, and the third period is going to carry that over apparently.
It all started when Adam McQuaid dropped Dane Byers with a hit in the neutral zone.
Michal Cajakovski took exception to that, and he shoved McQuaid to the ice. That led Nick Johnson to start a fight with Cajakovski, while McQuaid traded punches with Byers.
When it was all sorted out, though, the Caps had two extra penalties for their roles in the skirmish, and the Bruins will go on the 5-on-3.
Third period, 0:01, 1-1: The third period is underway with this one all tied up 1-1.
End second period, 1-1: The second period comes to an end with the score tied 1-1.
Second period, 18:20, 1-1: The Bruins have been putting Zdeno Chara in front on the power play all preseason long, and it came in handy right there.
Chara was camped in front of Braden Holtby, and the Boston captain tipped home a Dennis Seidenberg blast from the point for the power-play goal.
Second period, 17:53, Capitals 1-0: The Bruins are going on yet another power play.
Washington was called for too many men on the ice, and the Bruins will try to tie things up on the man-advantage.
Second period, 14:17, Capitals 1-0: The Bruins’ “other” third line of Ryan Spooner, Nick Johnson and Jordan Caron is continuing to generate chances, but they can’t bury them just yet.
The most recent came when Spooner took a pass dropped to him by Johnson, but the center ended up firing high over the crossbar for the missed chance.
Second period, 11:30, Capitals 1-0: The Capitals have three shots on goal so far, and one of those has found its way by Tuukka Rask.
Connor Carrick just scored the game’s first goal when he put a blast from the point through traffic and by Tuukka Rask. The power-play tally came in large part to the fact that there were two Bruins screening the Boston goalie.
Second period, 11:00, 0-0: The Bruins just got caught in a sloppy change, and they are whistled for too many men on the ice.
Second period, 9:42, 0-0: The Bruins weren’t able to convert on the power play, but they came close.
Braden Holtby made the save on an Adam McQuaid slap shot, but the rebound went in the direction of Nick Johnson. The forward couldn’t quite grab the rebound, and the opportunity was missed.
Second period, 7:42, 0-0: It’s been a busy night for Joel Rechlicz, although he’s done just about all of his work with his fists so far.
Rechlicz, who fought Milan Lucic in the first period, was at it again here in the second period. The Washington winger dropped the gloves with Johnny Boychuk behind the play and picked up another fighting major. That’s the third fight we’ve seen so far.
The Bruins will get another power play, though, as Rechlicz gets the instigator penalty.
Second period, 7:00, 0-0: The Bruins killed the penalty with relative ease. Washington wasn’t credited with a shot on the goal, at least not according to the in-game scoreboard, but it looked like they got at least one on.
Either way, the penalty was killed, and we saw David Krejci and Jarome Iginla as part of the Boston penalty kill for the second time in this one.
Second period, 5:00, 0-0: The Bruins are going back on the penalty kill.
Zdeno Chara was just sent off for his second penalty of the game, this one was for high-sticking as the Boston captain caught Garret Mitchell up high coming into the Boston zone.
Second period, 0:01, 0-0: The second period is underway.
First intermission: The story of the first 20 minutes had to be the fisticuffs. We saw a couple of very spirited bouts, with the main event coming late in the period when Milan Lucic and Joel Rehlichz gave it a go with a long bout. Lucic may have gotten the better of the fight in the end, especially with some of the haymakers he landed, but it was a very good fight in all.
I can’t imagine we’ll see much more of that moving forward, though. You have to think the Bruins aren’t exactly thrilled about seeing one of their top-line forwards, one of their most important players, punching people in the head on a regular basis. That’s probably especially true in the preseason. However, Lucic was challenged there, and he didn’t back down.
The Bruins have gotten the better of the chances so far. They’ve outshout the Capitals 9-2, and the quality of their chances has been much better. The Chris Kelly line with Kelly, Carl Soderberg and Reilly Smith has been pretty good so far.
End first period, 0-0: The horn just sounded on the first period, and we’re scoreless after one.
The Capitals will have 16 seconds of power-play time when the second period begins.
First period, 18:16, 0-0: The Bruins can’t do anything on the power play, thanks in large part to Braden Holtby. The goaltender stopped a Johnny Boychuk shot with a pad save, and when Ryan Spooner was there for the rebound, Holtby stopped that, too.
Washington is going to get a power play now, too. Zdeno Chara was called for interference.
First period, 15:23, 0-0: There hasn’t been a ton of scoring chances on either end, but boy has there been some mean stuff.
Milan Lucic and Joel Rechlicz just engaged in a very, very lengthy bout that has the Garden rocking about as loud as you/ll hear an arena in the preseason.
Lucic really fed some big right hands in that fight that seemed to go on forever.
The Bruins will actually get a power play out of it after Rechlicz got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
First period, 9:46, 0-0: The TD Garden crowd was just woken up by Aaron Volpatti and Kevan Miller who dropped the gloves in what was a very spirited bout.
Volpatti landed a couple of big blows before the Boston defenseman was able to pull Volpatti to the ground for the takedown.
First period, 9:31, 0-0: Not much in terms of scoring chances so far, but the Bruins did just get the best chance of the period thus far.
A weird bounce off the boards kicked back to the center of the ice in the neutral zone where Nick Johnson eventually settled the puck and put a shot on Braden Holtby. The Bruins forward attempted to go five-hole, but Holtby closed the pads in time.
We’ll probably see a lot of guys attempt to go five-hole, especially early in the season. Goalies are adjusting to shorter leg pads, which means there’s going to be more of an opening there that players will certainly try to take advantage of.
The Bruins are outshooting Washington 2-1 through the first half of the first period.
First period, 3:33, 0-0: Once again, the Bruins foil their own power play with a penalty of their own, as they have done a couple of times this preseason.
This time, it’s Dennis Seidenberg called for hooking.
First period, 3:18, 0-0: The Bruins get the game’s first power play.
Washington was called for too many men on the ice, despite the fact that the puck was deep in the Boston end. Tom Wilson will serve the penalty.
First period, 0:01, 0-0: It’s go time. This game is underway.
6:39 p.m.: The Bruins don’t have a ton of roster battling to have played out, but one spot where the B’s will be making some difficult decisions will be where they are on the third line.
Claude Julien has tried out some various line combos, and he’ll back at it for this one as well. The battle will continue, and we’ll be keeping an eye on a pair of lines featuring plenty of players up for jobs.
Here are the Bruins’ four lines, per pregame skate. The middle two will be the ones worth keeping an eye on as the third-line battle shakes out.
Lucic — Krejci — Horton
Caron — Spooner — Johnson
Soderberg — Kelly — Smith
Lindblad — Paille — Thornton
Meanwhile, the roster battle for the sixth defenseman will continue tonight as well — somehwat. It’s expected that the final spot will come down to Dougie Hamilton, Torey Krug and Matt Bartkowski. Only one of those three will be in the lineup, though, and that’s Bartkowski.
Chara — Boychuk
Seidenberg — Miller
Bartkowski — McQuaid
6:31 p.m.: The two teams are on the ice for pregame warmups, and the goaltending matchup will be Tuukka Rask versus Braden Holtby.
5:53 p.m.: As we mentioned earlier, Alexander Ovechkin is not in the Capitals’ lineup for this one, but there are a host of veteran forwards who have made the trip for Washington.
Also as mentioned earlier, the Caps are going with a lot of youth on the blue line in this one as well.
Here is the entire Washington lineup.
Forwards: Martin Erat, Troy Brouwer, Brooks Laich, Tyson Strachan, Aaron Volpatti, Jason Chimera, Tom Wilson, Michael Latta, Dane Byers, Joel Rechlicz, Garrett Mitchell, Jay Beagle, Mikhail Grabovski, Mathieu Perreault, Marcus Johansson
Defensemen: Jack HIllen, Michael Cajovsky, Mike Green, Patrick Wey, Connor Carrick, John Carlson, Dmity Orlov, Nate Schmidt
Goalies: Braden Holtby, Philipp Grubauer
3:10 p.m.: According to the Bruins’ team website, Alexander Ovechkin is not making the trip with the Capitals, so he won’t be playing in this one.
The Caps are also bringing some younger defensemen who will have to go up against a fairly veteran-laden Bruins lineup.
12 p.m: The Bruins will play their second preseason home game on Monday night, and they’re sure hoping it goes a lot better than the preseason home opener.
The B’s were rolled 8-2 by Detroit at TD Garden on Thursday night, and they’ll get a chance to turn their home mojo around Monday night when they welcome the Washington Capitals to Boston. The ugly loss to the Red Wings has been the lone blemish on the Bruins’ preseason slate, as they are 3-1-0 now after avenging that Thursday win by bouncing back to beat the Wings 2-0 on Saturday in Detroit.
Monday’s return to the Garden will also feature Tuukka Rask’s preseason home debut. Rask last played last Tuesday against the Capitals as well. He stopped 14 of the 15 shots he faced in the eventual shootout win in Baltimore.
Here is the rest of the Bruins’ lineup for Monday’s game.
Forwards: Jordan Caron, Jarome Iginla, Nick Johnson, Chris Kelly, David Krejci, Matt Lindblad, Milan Lucic, Daniel Paille, Reilly Smith, Carl Söderberg, Ryan Spooner, Shawn Thornton.
Defensemen: Matt Bartkowski, Johnny Boychuk, Zdeno Chara, Adam McQuaid, Kevan Miller, Dennis Seidenberg
Goaltenders: Tuukka Rask, Niklas Svedberg
For the Capitals, Mikhail Grabovksi is expected to make his debut after recently signing with the club and sorting out visa issues. He’ll likely skate on a line with Brooks Laich and Troy Brouwer on Monday night.
Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m., and we’ll have all the updates right here. The game will also be broadcasted at NESN beginning with pregame coverage starting at 6:30.
