Another night and another must-win game for the Washington Capitals. This time the Caps squared up with the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins who still have plenty to play for as well with their division lead a slim one and a chance to move into the first overall playoff seed in the East.
John Carlson opened the scoring with a point blast that knuckled by Jeremy Swayman. Nic Dowd potted an empty netter to seal the win.
Capitals beat Bruins 2-0!
- The Capitals came to play right out of the gate and held the Bruins without a shot on goal for the entire first half of the opening frame. The good guys should really have gone into the second intermission up two goals if Beck Malenstyn could have finished that buzzer-beater into an empty net.
- With the absence of both Nick Jensen and Rasmus Sandin, head coach Spencer Carbery specifically tabbed John Carlson, Martin Fehervary, and Alex Alexeyev for more minutes to cover up the depth issues. His and assistant coach Mitch Love’s process was evident in the first as Carlson skated almost half the period (9:30), Fehervary played over eight minutes (8:22), and Alexeyev played over seven minutes (7:04).
- Carlson rewarded his bench boss’s faith by firing the first goal of the game by Jeremy Swayman in the Bruins net. The tally was his 10th of the season, giving him a double-digit goal tally in a campaign for the eighth time in his 15 years with Washington. Per Capitals PR, Carlson’s 10 career goals against his hometown Bruins are tied for the most he has scored against a single franchise (CAR, NJD).
Enjoying No. 10 on the year from Carly pic.twitter.com/pSC8Np5gNi
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 15, 2024
- The second period led to much of the same from both teams although the Capitals were unable to add to their slim advantage. Just four shots for the Bruins in each of the first two periods. Boston has had to hate playing the Capitals this season as they’ve had a hard time dealing with them for long stretches in all three contests.
- I get that the referees were trying their best to get through this game without calling a penalty but that’s also what leads to players getting injured. Case in point, Trent Frederic laying a very late hit on Beck Malenstyn and sending the latter right to the locker room. To make matters worse, they then just didn’t call anything on that play either. Not great.
- Charlie Lindgren didn’t have a ton to do but still was rock solid when called upon and posted his second shutout this season against the Bruins. Spencer Carbery seems to want to hand him starts on back-to-back days which I would normally argue against but Darcy Kuemper just has been incapable of putting together a good run this season. Can’t go to your clear number two with the season on the line and Chuckie didn’t really have a busy night anyway.
- The Capitals announced that Malenstyn suffered an upper-body injury and would not return. He’ll join Rasmus Sandin and Nick Jensen on the shelf injured. The Capitals have had Ivan Miroshnichenko and Mike Sgarbossa watching the past few games as healthy scratches so it’s likely one of them will jump into the lineup in Philadelphia if Malenstyn cannot go.
- Watching Nic Dowd pickpocket Brad Marchand for the empty netter to seal the goal was perfection. Get lost, Brad.
Super important one with these legends on the call #JoeBSuitOfTheNight pic.twitter.com/erMjAM7SKS
— RMNB (@rmnb) April 15, 2024
The game that now decides it all for the Capitals this season comes in Philadelphia. A win of any sort takes all of the pressure off and assures playoff hockey.
