Some other thoughts…
-- Someday, teams will figure out just how to stop the Alex
Ovechkin one-timer from the circle. It
appeared early on that the Bruins had an answer, having forward Loui Eriksson
cheating high to positon himself to break up the pass from the point to
Ovechkin. But at some point, that
forward has to play honest and defend a potential shot from the point. When Eriksson slid over to get in the way of
a potential John Carlson shot, the lane for the pass opened up once more. Pass-shoot-score.
-- When you have spent 280 games in the AHL, 142 games in
the ECHL, and 135 games in a variety of other leagues, and you are almost 33
years old without having played in an NHL game, you are going to try to make a
mark when you get your chance. Bobby
Robins is that player, having waited for his chance to skate in the NHL. In this, his third NHL game, he made his
first shift memorable. He collided
knee-on-knee with Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen, then when the referee signaled
a delayed penalty, he tore off at the first Capitals he saw. In this instance it was Michael Latta. Robins tried to egg Latta on to do something
stupid and even up the penalties, but merely managed to take Latta off with him
on coincidental fighting majors. That
didn’t work so well for Boston. The Caps
scored eight seconds into the man advantage.
-- John Carlson and Karl Alzner, while not paired on defense
in this game, managed to be linked in one respect. Each defenseman – Carlson in the first
period, Alzner in the third – gift wrapped chances for Boston. Each one tried to send a pass through the
middle of the ice from the corner, and both times the aimless passes were
picked off by Boston forwards. Braden
Holtby was up to the challenge, though, stopping Chris Kelly in the first
instance and Carl Soderberg in the other.
-- The optics of the Caps style through two games suggests a
more aggressive approach than they displayed last season. Although the Bruins dominated puck
possession, the Caps did a credible job limiting time and space for the Bruins
to make decisions with the puck. In
other words – more pressure on the puck carrier.
-- Little things. The
Bruins are a good faceoff team, but things got ridiculous as the game wore
on. Boston held a 12-9 advantage after
the first period. They were 14-7 in the
second period and 8-3 in the third.
The win was the Caps’ fifth in their last six regular season
games against Boston, outscoring the Bruins by an 18-14 margin (not including
Gimmick goals). It leaves the Caps 1-0-1
in a rough four-game start to the 2014-2015 season. Having earned points against the Bruins and
the Montreal Canadiens, the Caps will now face the San Jose Sharks and the
resurgent New Jersey Devils (11 goals in two wins so far) to start the coming
week. If nothing else, it is a good
early season benchmarking exercise.
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