NHL Update - Washington Capitals overpower Boston Bruins 3-2
The 56th game of the NHL preseason took place in the home town of the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Centre. The game was expected to be one of the intriguing and hard fought battles. And it surely lived up to it, as the Washington Capital
won 3-2 against the Boston Bruins in the end.
The beginning few moments of the first period were dominated by the Boston Bruins. However, as the game progressed, the Washington Capitals backed by the 18,000 attendance started to get into the flow as well. But the Boston Bruins came up with goal attempts
every now and then. Though the Washington Capitals didn’t were not good with goals initially, they got past the Boston Bruins defence in the ninth minute and took the lead. The goal came as a result of a fantastic 44 feet shot by Mathieu Perreault.
This didn’t stop the Boston Bruins as they still dominated the play and increased their intensity of goal attempts. The Bruins constantly penetrated the Capitals defence looking for a gap. This wasn’t the case until the fifteenth minute when they finally
managed to score through Jeremy Reich. The first half ended with the score on 1-1.
At the end of the first period, the Washington Capitals Captain Alex Ovechkin said that they would try to get ahead of the Bruins, keeping in mind that they were the home team.
However, the second period was more of a defensive battle. Both teams came up with regular goal attempts and some brilliant pieces of play were observed. What dominated the match was the tight defence during the course of the period from both teams. Excellent
backline of both teams made it impossible to hit shot from close range.
This was the reason that only goal in the second period came in the last minute for the home team, Washington Capitals. The last few seconds in the period might have resulted in a little lapse of concentration that made it possible for Alexander Semin to
hit a 36 feet snap that was assisted by Alex Ovechkin leading it to the Boston goal.
Both teams managed to come up with good amount of goal attempts. The Boston Bruins came up with a total of 8 shots without a goal. The Washington Capitals came up with 11 goal attempts out which they managed to score once. The score at the end of the second
period was 2-1 in favour of the Washington Capitals.
Starting the third period with just one goal behind, the Boston Bruins looked to attack from the start of play. They dominated the proceedings with excellent passing but lost possession at crucial times. This went against them as the Washington Capitals
managed to score on a counter attack in the sixth minute. The goal came through Cody Eakin from a 12 feet shot.
From then onwards, the Washington Capitals didn’t try to come up with anything extraordinary, as they were in the lead at 3-1. The Boston Bruins tried their best and displayed excellent passing and play making. Eventually they were rewarded for their hard
work and they managed to score in the 12th minute through 24 feet Marchand shot. This made the final half of the period all the more exciting. The Boston Bruins, in the hunt for a goal to tie the match, came up with constant attacks.
On the contrary, the Washington Capitals with the slender lead of one goal came up with tight and lock down defence. The Boston Bruins weren’t able to get past until the end and the Washington Capitals won the match 3-2.
Star selection of the match was the Washington Capitals left wing man Alex Ovechkin, with the second star selection being Matt Bartkwoski, the defenseman of the Boston Bruins.
The game according to the analysts would help the Washington Capitals to develop into a strong contender for the NHL title this season. The Boston Bruins, on the other hand, were disappointed on losing the game, keeping in mind the impressive performance
they showed in the last game against the Montreal Candiens 4-2.
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