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Boston Bruins Can’t Solve Holtby, Fall 2-1 To Capitals

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Boston Bruins Vs. Washington Capitals

The Boston Bruins outshot the Washington Capitals 6-2 in the first period of play on Sunday. The out-attempted the Capitals 19-10, and held a 10-5 edge in scoring chances. It didn’t matter. The Bruins trailed 1-0 after twenty minutes on Sunday, and never were able to get back to even in a 2-1 loss.

The Boston Bruins finish the round-robin with a winless 0-3-0 record, and will enter the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the fourth seed. They’ll play the Carolina Hurricanes.

TJ Oshie opened the scoring with just 16 seconds remaining in the first period. A long point shot deflected towards goal by Nicklas Backstrom, but Tuukka Rask made the initial save and Zdeno Chara collected the rebound. The play didn’t die there, however. Oshie pushed hard and knocked the puck off of the stick of Chara and behind Rask for the ice-breaker.

An uneventful second period saw the Capitals outshoot the Bruins 13-10 and take the control of play. Neither side was able to score, with both Rask and Braden Holtby standing strong.

Tom Wilson gave the Capitals some much needed and important insurance early in the third period. Just 2:49 into the frame, Ilya Kovalchuk fired the puck down the ice for an apparent icing. Wilson beat Charlie McAvoy to the puck to win possession in the circle to the left of Rask. Wilson then went backhand to forehand and slipped a shot by the glove of Rask to make it 2-0.

The Bruins responded roughly eight minutes later. Jake DeBrusk finally got on the board with his first of the round-robin at 10:30, getting his team within one. DeBrusk took a feed from Ondrej Kase that initially looked to be behind him. DeBrusk was able to corral it, and quickly fired a shot that fooled Holtby to get the Bruins back in the game.

Holtby shut the door from there. He made 14 saves in the final period to preserve the victory and the third seed in the Eastern Conference for the Capitals.

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