Bruins Look For Upset Of The Century Over Capitals

Alex Ovechkin and the Caps torched the Bruins 4-1 in the Bruins home opener earlier this season.

Tonight at the TD Garden, the Boston Bruins and visiting Washington Capitals will present us with a two teams going in complete opposite directions.

Winners of 10 straight and nearly already clinching the Southeast Division with a 23 point lead over the Florida Panthers, the Washington Capitals march into Boston tonight with all the confidence in the world. Their counterparts, the Boston Bruins, are in the midst of their worst losing skid at home in over 85 years, and have most recently lost defensemen Mark Stuart with a finger injury. However, all is not lost in the Hub.

Sitting just two points away from 8th in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins played much better in their shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings just three days ago. The Bruins energy was there, the goals were there, the key stops were there, in short, everything but the two points were there for Boston.

Returning back to action, the Bruins expect and need an even stronger effort for tonight’s contest against the best offense in the National Hockey League.

“For sure they are a hard team, the skill-level they bring is probably one of the best in the league,” B’s captain Zdeno Chara to the media earlier today. “The last two games, we were getting better and better by period, and I think we had the results last game, but I think we’re on the right track,” Chara added “When you work hard, good things happen.”

Working hard may win you brownie-points among fans, but the Bruins are in need of some real points before the Olympic break.

The Bergeron line, reassembled with the return of Marco Sturm to the line-up, will once again be key to the Bruins completing the upset over the juggernaut Caps. When together, the Bruins third line featuring Mark Recchi, Patrice Bergeron, and Sturm are without question the most potent line-up the Bruins can roll with. However, their intensity is only matched by the Capitals trio of Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and former Bruin Mike Knuble.

For the Bruins, the key may be rattling goaltender Jose Theodore, who has played in just four contests in the past two weeks. If the Bruins could get off to an early start against Theo and the Caps, then this contest could get very interesting. Theodore will be opposed by Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas, who has not won a contest since stunning the Western Conference best San Jose Sharks back on January 14th.

Related YouTube Video of the Night

Jack Edwards’ famous “Take that!” was hollered from the ninth level of the TD Garden after Marco Sturm gave the Bruins a one goal lead in what would turn out to be a late comeback win over the Washington Capitals back on March 8th, 2008. Sturm’s leap into the boards was a mock celebration of Alexander Ovechkin, who leapt into the glass of the Verizon Center earlier that week during each one of his three goals in the Caps 10-2 romp of the Bruins.

Stats To Note & Players To Watch

* Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas is 9-3-2 against the Washington Capitals in his career with a .918 save percentage.

* Michael Ryder has just two goals in his last 16 games.

* Bruins enforcer Shawn Thornton was a healthy scratch on Saturday night’s contest against the Kings.

* 18 of Alexander Ovechkin‘s 35 goals have come on the road this season.

* Boston’s leading goal scorer has 16 goals this season, there are five Capitals players with more than that.

*Since taking over behind the Washington bench, Bruce Boudreau‘s Caps are 5-2-2 against Boston.

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