Bruins blast Caps
Explode for 7 goals to stay on hot streak
One game after thumping the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning, the Bruins delivered another victory on Monday that should continue to challenge the perception that they are a middling secondtier team in the Eastern Conference.
The B’s spotted the Washington Capitals two early goals in the first period and then, spurred by an inspirational sequence by Brad Marchand, exploded for six straight goals, beating the Caps, 7-3, at Capital One Arena.
Matt Grzelcyk had a career-high five-point night (1-4-5) and both Marchand and David Pastrnak each had a pair of goals to lift the B’s to their fifth win in six games since the extended Christmas break.
The B’s, hampered by a light schedule and chemistry issues with a handful of new arrivals early in the season, seem to be coming together. And after their successful two-game trip against two of the best teams in the conference, they have an opportunity to go on their first real run of the season. Their next seven games are scheduled for the Garden, starting with the last-placed Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.
On Monday, an eventful first period saw the Capitals race out to 2-0 lead only to see Marchand first take one for the team and then make the Caps pay for it.
The early going had all the makings of a long night for the B’s as they gave up a pair of gift goals, both to Melrose’s Conor Sheary. His first one came at 3:02 when Nic Dowd dumped a puck in behind the net. The rebound off the end boards went through Brandon Carlo and, after Linus Ullmark couldn’t control it either, the puck went right to Sheary, who pulled it to his backhand and beat Ullmark.
The second one came at 12:32. Grzelcyk tried to make a centering backhand pass to Patrice Bergeron, but Bergeron had already come down to help out and the puck went right to Sheary, who buried a onetimer for the 2-0 lead. Grzelcyk would make up for it.
“For me personally, I want to get back on the ice as quick as possible. It’s obviously an uncomfortable skate going to the bench when you’ve made a blunder and cost the team,” said Grzelcyk. “But we’ve got great resilience and great leadership. Guys immediately came up to me told me to keep my head up and I know I have to play with confidence to get back in the game.”
Late in the period, the Caps did indeed let the B’s back in the game. With Boston already on the power play, Marchand was going after a loose puck at the side of the net when Dowd appeared to try to lift Marchand’s stick. He missed the stick, but got all of Marchand’s nose, busting it wide open. Dowd was tagged with a double minor, giving the B’s their first of two 5-on-3s.
With Marchand receiving meatball surgery on the B’s bench to get the blood to stop flowing, the B’s first two-man advantage went by the wayside. But with Dowd still in the box, John Carlson took a cross-checking penalty on Erik Haula in front of the net.
On that 5-on-3, and with the bleeding stopped for the time being, Marchand sifted a pass through Trevor van Riemsdyk to Pastrnak on a one-timer goal past Zach Fucale at 18:34, Pastrnak’s fourth goal in as many games.
Then, on the one-man advantage, Marchand used a deflection off van Riemsdyk’s stick and a Charlie Coyle screen to beat Fucale again with 46 seconds left in the period. With that, Marchand headed down the tunnel to get some more extensive repairs for the second period.
“We know what he’s all about, so we’ve seen it, his compete level,” said coach Bruce Cassidy. ” Practice, game, optional skate skate, you name it. He’s a competitive guy when he puts the skates on. And I think it demoralizes the other team a little bit. They’re trying to play him hard and their line did a good job early on, the Dowd line. But we kept coming.”
The score was 2-2, but the Caps were toast. The B’s cracked open the game with four more goals in the second period and win it going away.
The B’s took the lead 2:51 into the second period. Grzelcyk, who’d picked up helpers on the two powerplay goals, carried the puck into the offensive zone on a quick counter-attack created by Anton Blidh (two assists) and from the middle of the ice near the top of the circles, he simply beat Fucale to the glove side.
The Caps very nearly tied the game but instead found themselves down by two at 7:53. On a helter-skelter play in the B’s end, Bergeron got in behind Ullmark to save a goal on an Evgeni Kuznetsov shot. As the B’s went on the attack, Bergeron changed out for Curtis Lazar. Lazar eventually carried the puck behind the net and sent a wraparound pass back to Craig Smith, who chased Fucale with his fourth of the year.
In came Vitek Vanacek, but the B’s put the game away as the chemistry of the Taylor Hall-Erik HaulaPastrnak line continued to burgeon. Hall had the primary assist on a pair of rush goals, first to Pastrnak and then to Haula.
“Yeah, (Hall) likes playing with (Pastrnak) as much as Krech, huh? Who doesn’t, right?” cracked Cassidy, referring to David Krejci’s overseas complaints that he didn’t get to play with Pastrnak enough. “Those guys are clicking right now.”
Hall extended his point streak to six games with the two assists, but the rush plays looked as smooth as the line has looked since being created.
“At the end of the day, the puck has to get to the net,” said Hall, clearly buoyed by his new opportunity with No. 88. “Pasta and I probably have a tendency to maybe overpass or turn down shots but tonight pucks seemed to get to the net at the right time. It’s fun playing that way.”
The Caps got one back before the period was out with Alex Ovechkin bouncing one off T.J. Oshie’s skate to make it 6-3 going into the third but, in the third, the B’s tightened up their play and Marchand added his second of the game to snuff out any idea of a Washington comeback.