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After finishing off a three-game home stand, the Boston Bruins are on the road again, this time to our nation’s capital to face the Washington Capitals for the first time this season. It’s been quite some time since these two teams last met–in fact, due to the lockout, it’s been quite nearly a year since that 2012 quarterfinal series of the playoffs.
But none of the Bruins are really thinking about that series anymore or how it ended. It’s been so long ago that they’ve moved on from it.
NHL second star of the week Patrice Bergeron is especially good against the Caps. In 26 games played, he’s got 27 points to his name, all but six of those assists. David Krejci is also productive against Washington, registering 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 20 games played, as is Milan Lucic (four goals, seven assists, 11 games).
Team-leading goal scorer Brad Marchand has put up three in 10 total games against the Caps. Could he try to make it at least one more this evening?
There were a few different line combinations tried out at practice this morning, including sending Lane MacDermid out with the fourth line and Chris Bourque with the third. Bourque and Shawn Thornton were both healthy scratches recently, although the Bruins won the game where Thornton sat it out and lost the one sans Bourque.
In net, Tuukka Rask will get the nod against Braden Holtby, who is making his 900th consecutive start. I’m just kidding about that number, but he has been starting between the pipes for the Capitals a lot lately, which could possibly serve the Bruins well because he could be tired. Rask’s all-time record against Washington isn’t great, although of course he hasn’t played too often against them anyway–three plays, two starts, a 0-2-0 record with a 3.45 goals-against average and .877 save percentage.
Speaking of less than great records, the Capitals. They got off to a bad start this season, but are now looking better and have won six out of their most recent nine games. Meanwhile, the Bruins are looking to restart a win streak after their six-game streak was snapped by the Montreal Canadiens. They’re also looking to improve areas of their game that have been slipping lately.
“We have a really high standard, even if it slips a little bit, we want to fix it…we have to get better,” Rask said.
The game starts at 7 p.m. and will be on NESN.
Emma Harger is an NHL writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow her on Twitter, like her on Facebook and add her to your network on Google.
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