BOSTON -- It was the same song, different verse for the Boston Bruins against the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.
The Bruins outshot the Capitals by a 41-22 margin and pretty much controlled nearly all of the game . . . except for the shifts after they scored their goals. That led to a 4-2 defeat, their 14th straight loss to Washington.
And if they can’t beat the Caps -- they haven't since March 29, 2014 -- are they really good enough to go on a Stanley Cup run?
Brad Marchand, for one, cautions about putting too much emphasis on the 14th straight loss.
“It can be frustrating [losing to the Capitals again], but we had a really good effort tonight,” said Marchand, who finished a minus-3 with no points in a really tough night for the Perfection Line, after Thursday's game. “We kind of controlled the play the whole way through and really the only looks they had were their goals and a couple [of plays] late when we were forcing [the offense]. We were the better team tonight. But they’re a really good team over there. They find ways to win and you know, that’s why they (won the Stanley Cup) last year and they’re a good team again this year. But we had a good effort.
“At the end of the day you’ve got to get the points, and we didn’t get them tonight. It’s just another game in an 82-game schedule. It’s another big one next game against Toronto, so we just have to get prepared for that.”
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The loss put a little tarnish on Boston’s five-game winning streak, which was snapped Thursday, since a victory over their longtime tormentor could have given the team, and the fan base, some belief that perhaps something special was beginning to percolate. Instead Alex Ovechkin threw Bruins captain Zdeno Chara over the boards and into the Capitals bench in the first period, scored two goals along the way, and Braden Holtby once again bedeviled Boston’s top offensive players to continue his career-long mastery of the Bruins.
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In many ways it was the same old, same old for both teams, with a shaky performance by Jaroslav Halak as the one real new development between both Eastern Conference clubs. The game-winning goal for Washington was a back-breaker for the Bruins: They’d tied the game on a David Krejci power-play strike in the third period, then watched as Halak missed a soft, long-distance wrist shot by Nicklas Backstrom that beat him low to the glove hand.
For a team that’s probably going to need a break or two along the way to finally break the Washington hex, the bad goal surrendered by Halak after the B's had tied the score at 2-2 certainly qualified as the opposite of that.
“I think we played a pretty good game,” said Halak. “We controlled most of the game, and you know, they have some players that can score goals and unfortunately I didn’t make a save on the third goal. That’s the bottom line. I got outplayed by their goalie, and you know, they got a win. So we just need to be better.”
So what’s it going to take to finally beat Ovechkin, Holtby, Tom Wilson, and the rest of the Big Bad Capitals?
Five-star games from Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak would certainly help; they didn't get that Thursday, as each of the three went scoreless with a minus-3 in the loss. But it also feels like the B’s are pretty much searching for answers right now against a team that’s bigger, stronger, and more explosively skilled with a goalie that owns them.
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That’s a tall order to go up against, and expect to win, on a consistent basis.
“I don’t have a great answer to (how to break the string of futility against the Caps) or we probably would’ve pulled it out of our hat a while ago," said coach Bruce Cassidy. "First of all, it starts with defending well because they’re a very good offensive team. We did that for the most part. We, again, gave up some quality chances, but it wasn’t a lot of quantity.
“Obviously another save [on the] difference-making play in the game. It’s 2-2. We get that save [on the Backstrom shot] and come down, who knows how long it goes. That could’ve made a difference. We got some saves after that, but we weren’t able to put one by [Holtby] to get the equalizer. Usually that play makes a difference in a close game. They made it. We didn’t. Let’s get ready for Toronto.”
In the grand scheme of things it’s really more important to get a clean two points Saturday night against a Maple Leafs team they’re chasing in the standings. That could factor much more into Boston’s ultimate playoff seeding and how everything comes down in April.
Still, there’s going to always be a 'Yeah, but . . . ' with these Bruins until they can finally beat the Capitals and prove that they’re good enough to beat any team in the league, even the defending Stanley Cup champs (who clearly have their number). Until that happens it’s going to be pretty difficult to believe that anything is truly possible with this Boston team.
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