Caps nip Bruins in OT

The Washington Capitals used an Alexander Semin goal on an 80 foot slap shot right after the start of overtime to defeat the Boston Bruins 3-2 at the TD BankNorth Garden on Saturday.  It was the Caps third victory in four games against Boston this season and cut the Bruins advantage in the NHL Eastern Conference to eight points.

It had been until that point a see saw battle, with Washington getting on the scoreboard first when Nicklas Backstrom scored on the power play just 3:36 into the game with assists by Semin and Mike Green.  The Bruins would answer less than 90 seconds later when Matt Hunwick would tally set up by Marc Savard and Phil Kessel.  The two teams would head to locker room dead knotted at a goal apiece.

It was more of the same in the second period, with Washington’s Alex Ovechkin scoring at the 8:48 mark from Matt Bradley and Milan Jurnica.  The Bruins would even the score again just 18 seconds later on Phil Kessel’s goal from Matt Hunwick and Marc Savard. 

The second period would end with a 2-2 tie, and the pattern repeated itself in the third with Washington scoring first at the 2:20 mark.  Tomas Fleischmann’s power play goal assisted by Brooks Laich and Tom Poti gave the Caps a 3-2 lead that they would hold until late in the period.  Zdeno Chara would even things up on the power play at 15:23 assisted by Patrice Bergeron and Marc Savard. That would set the stage for Semin’s heroics just: 22 into the extra session assisted by Mike Green and Jeff Schultz to give the visiting Capitals the victory.

After the game, Caps coach Bruce Boudreau played down the significance of his team’s victory:

"I don't think it gives us any advantage, but it does give us the thought that over four games so far we've been able to compete with maybe the best team in the league. If it gets down to it in the [conference] finals ... then it would probably be a good series."

Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin said that the victory was a boost to his team’s confidence heading into the playoffs:

"We still have 19 games so anything can happen. Every game against them we got at least one point, so it's good for our mentality that we can beat them and it doesn't matter if first or second. I think it's all about us. If we play our game and our system we can beat everybody."

Bruins coach Claude Julien wasn’t in a good mood after the game, though he refused to criticize his goalie Tim Thomas for allowing the ‘soft’ game winning goal.  He didn’t spare the rest of the team:

"He's given us too much to be worried about that. Call it a lucky goal or a bad goal; we can call it what we want. But those are shots that shouldn't go in."

He also took a swipe at the victorious Capitals:

"I have heard them say they're in our heads. They do a lot of talking. I don't think they do a lot of research."

Washington will play their next three games at home, hosting Florida on Sunday, Carolina on Tuesday and Toronto on Thursday.  Boston will also play the next three games on their own rink, with the Philadelphia Flyers coming in on Tuesday, Phoenix on Thursday and Chicago on Saturday.