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Back-to-back successful afternoon matchups against playoff teams: Capitals beat Bruins 4-2

By Chris Cerullo

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April 10, 2022 4:13 pm

The Washington Capitals were back on the ice less than 24 hours after taking down the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road Saturday. Could they sneak a win over a better rested Boston Bruins squad?

John Carlson opened the scoring in the second before two goals in quick succession from Curtis Lazar and Erik Haula gave the Bruins a mid-game lead. Tom Wilson jammed home a rebound to tie the game at two. Lars Eller threw the puck to the net and it took a wicked deflection to beat Linus Ullmark to give the Caps a third-period lead.

Alex Ovechkin empty netter! Love that.

Capitals beat Bruins 4-2!

  • Almost straight down the middle first period in terms of chances. Both Vitek Vanecek and Linus Ullmark were very good early as we left the first twenty minutes scoreless. Two bad penalties taken by Nic Dowd and Dmitry Orlov.
  • I have seen more talk about golf than hockey on these national broadcast intermission shows. If I wanted to hear about the Masters every four seconds, I’d be watching them. Also, golf sucks. I will hear no arguments.
  • I have zero idea why this sort of scheduling is allowed. The Caps finished their game against the Pens in Pittsburgh like 18 hours before puck drop in DC. That’s exactly how guys get hurt and it’s not like they haven’t had weird multi-day breaks recently that could have been filled with a game to avoid this back-to-back. National TV game money though always before player safety in the NHL.

  • Second period was a lot less good. The Bruins had a whole lot of the puck and the Caps really didn’t test Ullmark outside of the shift where Tom Wilson converted on a rebound chance. Getting out of the frame tied at two was a welcome sight.
  • Marcus Johansson really needs to just get the puck deep in neutral before that Erik Haula goal. I do not know why he tried to extend the shift instead with a touch pass to TJ Oshie. Johansson was a great Cap in his younger years but man…I’m pretty suspect of his value right now.
  • Not the finest bit of work from Vitek Vanecek on both of the goals in the second. He got deked out of his skates by Nick Foligno and lost his crease on the Lazar goal. He then got beat by a deep slapper from Haula where he looked off the angle and left the far side way too open. Just a reminder that both he and Ilya Samsonov are restricted free agents after this season. Tough to say either has earned a long-term contract.
  • Tom Wilson got on the board with his 23rd goal of the season. That’s his new single-season, career-high in goals, and also his 50th point which is the first time in his career that he has hit that mark. He’s been awesome recently.

  • Back-to-back really, really good third periods. This one even better when you consider how tired they had to be.
  • Trent Frederic is like if Brad Marchand sucked at hockey.
  • The refs sure picked a side in this game. Four power plays for the Bruins in a row. One of them stared directly at Conor Sheary being tripped two feet in front of him and just let it go. Really made friends with the home crowd. Don Koharski was an NHL referee by the way.

The Flyers are in town next on Tuesday. They are terrible and playing a bunch of dudes I have never heard of. The Caps should win.

Headline photo courtesy of @pennybacker/RMNB Crasher

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