SECOND INTERMISSION
SCORE
WSH - 4
BOS - 2
SHOTS
WSH - 28
BOS - 20
Forty minutes down at the Garden where the Bruins now trail Washington 4-2.
It seemed to be here-come-the-Bruins time with 4:58 gone in the middle frame, as Brad Marchand grabbed a deflected puck in the offensive zone, skated in and beat Vokoun to make it 2-2.
Boston had erased their two-goal hole and had all the momentum in the world. A string of penalties, however, killed it.
Just 23 ticks are Washington's first power play of the period concluded, Dennis Seidenberg collided with Adam McQuaid behind Boston's net. This left Jay Beagle open in front. His snapper beat Thomas to make it 3-2.
With Greg Zanon in the box for an iffy (at best) roughing call, Brooks Laich tipped in a slap-pass by Dennis Wideman with 2:29 left in the period to make it 4-2.
Washington outshot Boston 15-7 during the period.
FIRST INTERMISSION
SCORE
WSH - 2
BOS - 1
SHOTS
WSH - 13
BOS - 13
Twenty minutes are in the books in Boston where the Bruins trail the visiting Capitals by a score of 2-1.
Washington scored two goals 25 ticks apart to stun Boston. Alex Semin grabbed a loose puck with plenty of open space around him with 7:50 game and fired one past Tim Thomas.
At 8:15, Matt Hendricks -- traded by the B's for Johnny Boychuk once upon a time -- buried his fourth of the season to make it 2-0.
The Bruins called timeout and absolutely took over play for the remainder of the frame, outshooting Washington 10-1 the rest of the way.
That finally paid off with a little more than five seconds left before the intermission. Patrice Bergeron won a faceoff and Milan Lucic wristed one through Tomas Vokoun's five-hole to give Boston momentum heading into the second period.
PREGAME NOTES
STARTING GOALTENDERS: Thomas (29-15-0, 2.29 GAA, .925 Save
%) vs.
Vokoun (24-16-2, 2.50 GAA, .917 Save %). Thomas is 14-4-2
with a 2.42
GAA and .926 Save % in 21 career games against Washington
while Vokoun
is 6-10-3 with a 2.64 GAA and .927 Save % in 20 career games
against
Boston.
A FINE LINE: Since playing on the same line five games ago
on March 1,
Milan Lucic (1-5=6 totals), David Krejci (5-2=7) and Tyler
Seguin
(4-3=7) are all on five-game point streaks and have combined
for 10
goals and 10 assists.
BACK-TO-BACK: With victories over Toronto and Buffalo, the
Bruins won
consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 10-12, a
span of 24
games. That is their longest stretch of games without
consecutive
victories since a 37-game span from Oct. 13, 2000-Jan. 6,
2001.
CAPITALS NOTEBOOK: The Washington DC chapter of the
Professional Hockey
Writers Association nominated Dennis Wideman for the Bill
Masterton
trophy, which is presented to the NHL player who best
exemplifies the
qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to
hockey. Last
March, Wideman suffered acute compartment syndrome in his
thigh and
underwent a total of six surgeries to repair an injury
described by team
doctors as “career and limb threatening”…
Yesterday, defenseman Mike
Green was suspended three games for a shot to the head of
Tampa Bay
Lightning forward Brett Connolly and will not play
today… Including
today’s matchup, Washington will play six of their
next seven games on
the road… The Caps have scored six of their last nine
goals after the
16-minute mark of the third period.