The Capitals hopped on the road for a quick little rendezvous to play the Boston Bruins. To call it a “rendezvous” might be a tad too nice because this was a messy game.

After a fairly tame first period, aside from a beautiful breakaway goal from Jakub Vrana, the Caps and the Bruins would both score a goal each in the second. The extracurricular stuff was a little bumpy with some rough hits and chippy play.

A few minutes into the third and the Capitals had too many men on the ice. Alex Ovechkin took a seat in the bad box and the Bruins tied it up 2-2. But do you hear that? That wind in the air? No, it’s not a bird but it’s the sweet, sweet feeling of watching Jaroslav Halak completely miss a shot from Nicklas Backstrom. An empty netter from Alex Ovechkin put the final nail in the coffin.

Caps win 4-2! 

• First and foremost, it is our dear Julia Karron‘s birthday today. We love her a whole lot.
• It is also John Carlson‘s 29th birthday. So young and yet so powerful.
• Jakub Vrana continues to be a shining star after scoring the first goal for the Capitals on a beautiful breakaway. Vrana now has three goals in the last two games. He currently has 15 goals for the season.
• I have a cute theory that Zdeno Chara just wants to be a Washington Capital. He was shoved onto the Capitals bench during the second period by Alex Ovechkin. It’s also important to note that Chara is 6’9″… which is a pretty nice height.
• The night was pretty scary for TJ Oshie after he was check face first into the glass. He was forced to leave and get checked out, but later returned to the ice. Unfortunately, Oshie has a history with these rough hits. He has had five concussions in his career.
• Can someone help us figure out what the bloody hell this means?

Someday kids pic.twitter.com/8qcaBIcbid

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 10, 2019

• Before the game began, the buzz was all about if Brad Marchand and Lars Eller would drop the gloves since that was quite the story from the last time the Capitals and Bruins faced off. So, did they? Well, Lars Eller dropped the gloves…can’t say the same for Brad.
• After missing the last game due to illness, Nick Backstrom scored his 11th goal of the season. The Capitals are 21-0-0 in games where Backstrom records a point against the Bruins.
• With his final empty netter goal, Alex Ovechkin scored his 639th career goal. He is now one behind Dave Andreychuk for 14th in NHL history.
• The Capitals have extended their streak to 14 straight wins against the Boston Bruins.
• Braden Holtby is 15-2-0 against the Boston Bruins. He stopped a total of 39 shots against the 41 he faced tonight. Couldn’t have put this better myself:

Updated Ranking of Greatest Goalies All-Time:

1A. Braden Holtby Against The Bruins

1B. Dominik Hasek

2. Everyone else who cares it’s random anyways

— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) January 11, 2019

• According to Natural Stat Trick, the Bruins buried the Capitals in shots 41-22. They also out-attempted Washington at 5v5, 55-30. But the Capitals kept most of Boston’s attempts to the perimeter and the Capitals had better quality scoring chances. The Caps had 10 high-danger chances to Boston’s 7 at 5v5. You could say the Capitals Halak’d Halak.

#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsBruins Raspberry! 👀 pic.twitter.com/MEh4NGOBlb

— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 11, 2019

Don’t miss the Capitals too much, they’ll be back home on Saturday to face the Columbus Blue Jackets and…possibly Sergei Bobrovsky? Who in the world knows any more.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Bruins

Headline photo: Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images