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Capitals flex their muscles, put Bruins in a tough spot

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Brad Marchand's two goals and an assist wasn't enough to carry the Bruins past Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals as Washington extended its home streak with a 5-3 win.

The Washington Capitals dominated the month of January, leading the league in goals scored, standings points generated and goal differential. If Wednesday’s 5-3 win against the Boston Bruins is any indication, they might just dominate 2017.

While the score wasn’t especially lopsided, the Capitals looked like a juggernaut at times in their eighth consecutive home win.

As the headline states, Washington flexed its muscles, displaying some of the feats of strength that helped them race ahead of the rest of the NHL:


  • One of the league’s best one-two punches at center showed up in a big way. Nicklas Backstrom scored one goal and collected two assists, including a beautiful saucer to set up a T.J. Oshie breakaway goal. Evgeny Kuznetsov was a menace in the latter stages of the game, generating a goal and assist of his own.
  • The Capitals also have that Alex Ovechkin guy, who remains a machine from “his office” on the power play. He scored his 550th career NHL regular season goal on the man advantage.
  • Braden Holtby was pretty sharp, especially at even-strength, stopping 28 of 29 there (while Brad Marchand scored two power-play goals). The workhorse goalie is on a four-game winning streak.
  • The other team needed it more. It didn’t matter.

On that note, the Bruins ... yeah, they’re in trouble. Sure, they’re technically in the playoffs as of Wednesday, yet games in hand make you think that this is a dire situation.

Atlantic Division rankings (skipping Montreal because c’mon)

2. Senators - 58 points in 48 games
3. Bruins - 58 points in 54 games

Maple Leafs - 55 points in 48 games
Panthers - 54 points in 51 games
Lightning - 50 in 51
Sabres - 49 in 49
Red Wings - 49 in 50

Really, the Bruins can’t ignore the race for the second wild card spot, either. Anyway, the point is that the Bruins could have at least used a point from this one. Unfortunately, this game came against the Caps, so no dice.

If the loss wasn’t bad enough, it seemed like Tuukka Rask was shaken up by stretching out for a late save while Patrice Bergeron’s return from a puck to the knee wasn’t totally convincing.

Uh oh, Part 1:

Part 2:

Long story short, the Bruins have plenty to worry about. And the rest of the NHL should absolutely be concerned about the rise of the Capitals.