- Go go Perrault A very active night for Mathieu Perrault, the Caps' youngster who had been a healthy scratch fairly recently. Perrault was involved in all aspects of the game, notching his first career hat trick and also taking two penalties. All told, the kid had three goals (including the game-winner), five shots, and four penalty minutes in just under 14 minutes of TOI. Not too shabby.
- Clever girl... Rich Peverley had a goal tonight, extending his point streak to four games. Raptor Rich now has 1G-3A totals in his last four games.
- Wiiiiiiiiiiiiides Future Norris Trophy winner Big Mofney Wides was honored with a nice ovation from Caps fans in recognition of his 500th career NHL game. He celebrated by scoring the empty-net dagger to sink his old team. Wides now has 34 points on the season.
The Bad
- Not-so-clutch It's hard to criticize Patrice Bergeron's face-off prowess, but he had a rough third period. Bergeron is usually one of the most reliable face-off men in the game, but he lost at least three key face-offs in the game's final five minutes alone. It certainly wasn't what doomed the B's, but it didn't help.
- Team-wide malaise Overall, this just wasn't a very good effort from the Bruins. How bad was it? Team stats usually aren't great when five goals are allowed, but the B's didn't have a single plus player last night. That's really a sign of no one having a good night. Sure, a couple of guys had multi-point games, but they weren't solid on the other end. To sum it up: not good.
- Running on empty? To be honest, the B's, as a team, looked drained tonight. I can't really blame them. In the past four days, they played a wicked, battering-ram game against the Rangers and a fight and hit filled game against the Flyers. Both of those games went to extra time, and there wasn't any real rest in between. Oh, and on Monday, their "off day," the B's faced a media circus at the White House. What I'm driving at is that the B's looked tired and worn down, and I don't necessarily blame them. The All-Star break will do these guys good.
What went wrong
- To be honest, this was just a bad effort team-wide. However, it was particularly bad on the defensive end of things. Too many chances to clear the zone ended up on Washington sticks, too many passes were picked off. Case in point: the B's had a couple of chances to keep possession and clear the zone on Perrault's game-winner. Instead, they were beaten to loose pucks, and then outworked in front of the net as Perrault batted the rebound home. Just not a good effort tonight. Plain and simple.
Attaboy: Perrault, for his first-career hat trick. And Big Money Wides too. Duh.
Providence Shuttle: Everyone on the Bruins. Get into the break, rest up, and get ready for the stretch run.
No comments:
Post a Comment