Photo: NHL
The Washington Capitals (6-6-1, 13 pts) will play their only game of a one-game road trip on Saturday when they visit the Boston Bruins (5-3-3, 13 pts) on Saturday night at TD Garden. The Capitals will look to halt the Bruins’ 6-game point streak, where they have gone 3-0-3.
Washington Capitals
After a four-day break in between games, the Capitals beat the New York Islanders on Thursday by a 4-3 count, despite getting outshot 38-19. Three of Washington’s goals came from its bottom-six forward group, two of which belonging to Lars Eller, and the others belonging to Alex Chiasson, who scored his first as a Capital on Thursday. Defenseman Taylor Chorney also struck in Washington’s 4-3 victory over the Islanders on Thursday.
The Capitals are 6-6-1 through their first 13 games this season and will look to get back above .500 on Saturday against the Bruins. The Capitals have gone 2-1-0 in their past three games and will look to improve that tomorrow at TD Garden.
Washington is looking for more scoring from their top players as neither Alex Ovechkin nor T.J. Oshie has scored since a 4-3 victory at the Detroit Red Wings on October 20, and Nicklas Backstrom has not scored since an 8-2 loss at the Philadelphia Flyers six days earlier.
The Capitals will still be without defenseman Matt Niskanen and forwards Andre Burakovsky and Tyler Graovac, who are all on injured reserve. They will also most likely be without Brett Connolly, who played for the Bruins for two seasons but did not receive a qualifying offer when he was up for contract as a restricted free agent in 2016. Connolly scored 9 goals and 27 points in 76 games over a span of two seasons with the Bruins.
Braden Holtby will likely get the nod in net. He is looking for his third consecutive win.
Boston Bruins
The Bruins will play their second game of a three-game homestand. They opened it up with a 2-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night. The Bruins are 3-0-3 in their past 6 games but have not won against Washington since March 29, 2014.
The Bruins are led by Brad Marchand, who has eight goals and 13 points through 11 games this season after scoring 39 goals and 85 points in 80 games last season, and David Pastrnak, who has six goals and 11 points after scoring 34 goals and 70 points in 75 games last year.
Behind them follow rookies defensemen Charlie MacAvoy, who has a goal and 8 points, forward Anders Bjork, who has three goals and 7 points, and forward Danton Heinen, who has two goals and 6 points. Forward Jake DeBrusk also has two goals and 5 points through 11 games.
Tuukka Rask will likely get the start between the pipes for the Bruins. He is 2-3-0 with a 2.65 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.
Skate Shavings:
-The Capitals are 15-4-0 against the Bruins since 2011-12
-Braden Holtby is 11-2-0 with a .945 save percentage and has a 1.80 save percentage and 3 shutouts lifetime against the Bruins
-Nicklas Backstrom has 6 goals and 35 points in 31 career games against the Bruins, including two goals last season
A Look Back in Time
These two teams met in the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs and five of seven games in the series went to overtime. The Capitals won the series thanks to a Joel Ward overtime winner in Game 7. The Bruins were the second seed in the Eastern Conference while the Capitals were the seventh. The Capitals would move on to face the first seeded New York Rangers and fell in seven games.
By Harrison Brown
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