Capitals Shutout Bruins in Banner-Raising Bash

NHL

Capitals Shutout Bruins in Banner-Raising Bash

Magic. That’s what it felt like to watch the banner heading up to the rafters, this one finally declaring the Capitals Stanley Cup Champions. The Stanley Cup itself was in the spotlight, sitting on the ice between the team and that banner. Everyone knew it: this night, this game, was going to be special.

However, the Capitals likely did not anticipate it would be quite that special. The team was looking for their 13th-straight win against the Bruins. There was a chance they could lose. A win would have been more than enough. A 7-0 shutout against the Boston Bruins was a blessing.

First Impressions

If the Capitals had come out with a weak start, the game would have looked entirely different. Instead, two goals within the first 1:47 alerted the Bruins that the Caps meant business. TJ Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov netted those first two, with Oshie’s goal coming just 24 seconds after puck drop.

Todd Reirden told the media following the game that he’d given the team a challenge. “I said, ‘Somebody’s going to do it. Who’s it going to be in there?’ And I’m not surprised to see our leaders step up like they did. Throughout the first five minutes of the game, they sent a strong message.”

The Capitals’ power play ranked seventh last season and they’re looking to be toward the top of the leaderboard again. Scoring four goals on six power play opportunities gave them a good head start over other clubs. All four goals came from the top power play unit. The second unit didn’t see much time during this match, but upcoming games will prove whether they have the power play depth.

Magic Number Three

If the ice wasn’t already tilted in the Capitals’ favor, the scoring at the start of the second period would have changed that. Three goals scored on three shots in 3:11.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Alex Ovechkin scored the first of many this season from his left-side office off a classic feed from, you guessed it, Nicklas Bäckström. That was the first goal. With most of the night’s scoring coming from Capitals superstars, the second goal of the trio came from an unsuspecting source. Nic Dowd, the only new face to the returning Stanley Cup-winning team, scored a no-look goal on an unsuspecting Tuukka Rask.

With his second goal of the night, Kuznetsov snuck it in short side. It would be the last goal the Capitals scored on Rask, who was pulled and replaced by Jaroslav Halák. Halák allowed only two goals the rest of the night, but the Bruins were never able to put together a response.

Other Accolades

The banner going up wasn’t the only special part of the evening. Nicklas Bäckström was just one away from reaching the 800-point mark at the beginning of the game. By the end of the game, he was already at 802. Credited with the primary assist on Oshie’s opening goal, Bäckström is the 10th Swedish-born player to hit the milestone.

The shutout for Braden Holtby? That was big. Including the postseason, this was Holtby’s third shutout in eight games. More importantly, it was his first regular season shutout since April 5, 2017, which helps set him up for the long haul. With the loss of Philipp Grubauer during the offseason and Pheonix Copley as his new backup, Holtby will be the Capitals workhorse in net. Knowing he is ready to go and already in good form is a weight off the Capitals’ collective shoulders.

Holtby also recorded an assist on Evgeny Kuznetsov’s second goal. He’s a team player in more ways than just protecting the net.

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Photo Credit

Photo Courtesy of GCormier