Boston Bruins

Bruins Offense Capped By Washington

Published

2 weeks ago

December 31, 2024

AP Photo/Nick Wass

Despite even their best efforts, the Boston Bruins had no answers on Tuesday afternoon at Capital One Center, where their offense was limited in a 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals.

The Bruins had opportunities to score in the game; plenty of them, in fact.

They doubled Washington in scoring chances and held a 13-10 edge in ones of the high-danger variety, according to Natural Stat Trick.

But of the combined 84 shots the Bruins attempted, only 27 threatened Capitals goalie Logan Thompson. Washington completely took away the center of the ice, fearlessly clogging any and all shooting lanes the Boston had and blocked 28 shots.

“It was a tight-checking game like we knew it would be,” Bruins interim coach Joe Sacco told reporters in Washington. “You have to fight for your offense. You have to work for your offense.”

The Bruins found themselves ahead early as Justin Brazeau once again got their started, scoring his ninth goal of the season at 1:21 of the first period.

But as quickly as the Bruins grabbed the lead, the Capitals took it for themselves and never let go.

Aliaksei Protas drew Washington even at 12:05 of the first with a goal from down-low after Pierre-Luc Dubois beat Brandon Carlo in a battle for the puck along the end boards with ease, allowing him to set up Protas for the tying goal.

Jakob Chyrchrun then put the Capitals in front a few minutes later with a power-play goal, skating in close before firing a shot from the right faceoff circle that beat Jeremy Swayman to the short side of the net.

That was all it took to put the Bruins away.

Even with an extra attacker, they struggled to score.

In two chances on the man advantage during the second period, the Bruins landed just two shots on net, as their abysmal power play failed to even set up in the offensive zone.

“We need to execute better on our entries,” said Sacco. “I think it starts there, and then, when we’re in the zone, we need to get tighter to the net. We need to improve that area of the game for our team.”

The Bruins couldn’t come up with the tying goal late in the game with Swayman pulled, either. Instead, Protas hit the empty net for his second goal of the afternoon in the game’s final seconds.

“It’s frustrating when you don’t score,” Charlie McAvoy told reporters in Washington. “We’ll have to find ways to get better and find ways to be more dangerous.”

The loss in Washington drops Boston’s record to 20-15-4.

The Bruins can only hope that they’ll find more offense in the New Year. They’ll begin 2025 in New York on Thursday against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.