Game 4: Bruins 3, Capitals 1

I realize these posts have gotten a little longer than I intended, so I'm going to try to keep them brief. I don't even think I'd read the entirety of these epic tomes I've been posting.


The Good

• Tim Thomas: Spectacular again, what else can be said? If he keeps it up, Tuukka Rask should probably buy a recliner to replace his back-up milk crate. He's going to be there for a while. Not many top notch saves from Thomas tonight, but he was solid all-around. Making 35 saves while allowing just one goal to this Caps team is nothing to sneeze at.
• Milan Lucic: Props to Lucic for his second-career Gordie Howe hat trick (which I've since renamed the "Pavel Datsyuk hat trick"), but even bigger props for fighting John Erskine again after getting popped pretty good last time. Lucic seemed to say in the Boston Globe's write-up of the game that he remembered that bout with Erskine and wanted to make up for it. I'd say he earned at least a draw this time around.
• Penalty kill: The B's had to kill off four penalties, including an extended 5-on-3, and performed extremely well on all of the kills. The PK unit only allowed four shots to get through to Thomas. The penalty kill was one of the B's strongest assets last year, and it looks in the early going like it will continue to be a valuable tool this year.

The Bad

• Matt Hunwick: Even with his goal, it'd be generous if I moved him up to neutral. Another rough game for the young defenseman, though one hopes that his goal will boost his confidence and get his game going in the right direction. Washington's lone goal came as a direct result of a Hunwick turnover right near his own net. If Hunwick continues at this pace, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a game or two off to reset his head.
• Turnovers: While Hunwick's was the most egregious, the entire B's team was guilty of way too many turnovers last night. It's not often that a team can be so careless with the puck and not get burned, especially against an explosive team like the Caps. It seemed like everyone got a bit careless with the puck at times, from Hunwick and Zdeno Chara to Michael Ryder and Tyler Seguin. The B's, as a team, need to be a bit more disciplined.
• Greg Campbell's second home: The fourth-liner racked up 11 penalty minutes (5 came in a fight) last night, including a tough four-minute high-sticking penalty in the dying minutes that forced the B's to finish the game 4-on-6. It didn't burn them this time, but Campbell is too valuable a checker to sit in the box that much in one game. Discipline, discipline, discipline, which is coincidental since his dad is the NHL's Dean of Discipline.
  
• Powerless play again: I think I might just create a template for these posts so I don't have to keep writing the same thing over and over about the power play. It was awful again tonight, including a squandered opportunity on an extended 5-on-3. Work needs to be done.

The Rest

• Not much life shown by Washington's big guns last night. Ovechkin, Semin and Backstrom had the odd scoring chance or two, but were all held pointless. Shutting down those three will go a long way towards beating the Caps, and the B's were able to do so last night.
• Expect a long suspension from Rick Rypien of the Vancouver Canucks for his incident with a fan last night in Minnesota. No sports league takes incidents involving player contact with fans lightly, but Rypien, who lost his cool and actually grabbed the fan by the shirt, will likely miss five or more games. No, he didn't actually punch the fan like Tie Domi or venture into the crowd like the Indiana Pacers, but Gary Bettman and Co. will still be hard on him. It's hard to blame the players for wanting to go after fans at times, especially with some of the taunts and insults heard in hockey arenas across the country, but restraint and the ability to tune it out are part of being a professional athlete.

Attaboy: Got to be Thomas again. As long as he keeps playing well, he should keep starting.

Providence shuttle: For the B's, it's Hunwick. In general, it's Rypien. Don't go after the fans, no matter how obnoxious you find their Minnesota accents.