Pre-Game Storylines

With the return of Alex Ovechkin, and Dmitry Orlov, the Caps’ lineup was due for some changes, but head coach Peter Laviolette had more changes than just those:

#Caps lines at a.m. skate ahead of BOS:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Sheary-Oshie-Panik
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway
Vrana-Sgarbossa-Sprong

Chara-Carlson
Dillon-TvR
Orlov-Jensen
Siegenthaler-Fehervary

Vanecek
Anderson

Eller, Schultz, Kuznetsov and Samsonov are not on the ice.

— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) February 1, 2021

Sheary moving up to Vrana’s place on the second line was somewhat of a surprise (at least to me) but Sheary has been playing significantly better as of late, improving over an abysmal start to the season. Kuznetsov and Samsonov remained out in Covid Protocol.

Vitek Vanecek has continued to handle the starters net incredibly well, stopping 94.6% of shots coming his way at 5v5, which is near the top of the league.

First Period

After an ugly start, in which the Bruins had a near miss off the post, Carl Hagelin opened the scoring with a deflection to get his first goal.

CARRRRRRRL‼️ pic.twitter.com/V27CyV1C7E

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 2, 2021

Shortly thereafter, Zdeno Chara would make it 2-0 against his former team with an absolute rocket from the point.

BIG ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

that's the tweet. pic.twitter.com/0mqKw8aVRa

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 2, 2021

Then just 11 seconds later, Daniel Sprong would score to make it 3-0.

when it rains it ✨pours✨ pic.twitter.com/zvuEDNjDyP

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 2, 2021

Second Period

The Caps have gotten very limited powerplay opportunites this season. Almost historically few:

Okay, the more I look the nuttier it gets. The #ALLCAPS are at 2.26 Pen. Drawn/60. If this persists it would be the 11th least of all time, and the fewest since the 45-46 Bruins.

I understand it's a small sample size, but like, damn that is insanity.

— Stat Guy Blake (@AllenCaps1995) February 1, 2021

But the Caps finally got a couple in tonights game, one of which resulted in this beauty from John Carlson.

prettyyyyy prettty prettyy goood pic.twitter.com/EpM6moURm3

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 2, 2021

Unfortunately, the Bruins were finally able to get something going as a lost faceoff led to a Pastrnak goal.

Going into the game, the Caps were 4th worst in the league at faceoffs winning just 45.4% of them, meanwhile the Bruins were best in the league at 58.7%. Losing that faceoff in particular caused major problems for the Caps, as the Bruins got themselves back into the game.

Back on the table. 🍝 #NHLBruins | @pastrnak96 pic.twitter.com/RnOfjJuQ9D

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 2, 2021

Third Period

The third period was all Bruins in terms of both shots and Goals. I’ll spare you the videos. Pastrnak scored to make it 4-2 midway through the third and it was all downhill from there.

#Caps had 15 shots on goal in the first period. Since then, they have 8

— JJ Regan (@JJReganNBCS) February 2, 2021

Craig Smith scored his third goal of the season to bring it within 1. And after ringing one off the crossbar in the first, Brandon Carlo finally put one in the net. After that, for some strange reason, the Caps pulled their goalie, even though it was a tie game, which would only make sense if the Hagelin goal had been called back. Since the Hagelin goal counted, I’m not sure why the Caps pulled their goalie and the Rat Brad Marchand took and advantage and scored the empty netter.

Boos all around.

At least ya boy won the over 5.5.