The Bruins were shutout Monday night at Capital One Arena by a Washington Capitals team vying for playoff positioning.
For a team that will start its playoff run at the end of this week, the Boston Bruins looked like anything but a contender in Monday night’s 2-0 loss to the Washington Capitals.
Despite Jeremy Swayman’s 23 saves, the B’s weren’t able to stave off a desperate Capitals team which is holding on to the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
“I think the word ‘struggle’ is a compliment the way we played tonight,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said to the media Monday. “I thought Washington – their desperation, how well they defended, how well they hung onto pucks in the offensive zone – is the way we wanted to play.”
Prior to Monday’s loss, Boston had won five of its last six games and against top-tier competition as well. So, while getting shutout by Washington in a low-effort performance isn’t ideal, it’s perhaps also not representative of where the Bruins are ahead of the postseason.
“I’m not going to put too much into it to be honest,” Montgomery said. “We didn’t play well.”
One thing that may change the B’s playoff look is the impending status of Brandon Carlo. The veteran defenseman left the game about five minutes into the third period. It’s unclear if it was injury related, and if so, when the injury occurred.
It will be telling if Carlo – who has been steady and consistent on the backend all year – joins the Bruins as they close out the regular season Tuesday night at TD Garden against the Ottawa Senators.
Boston’s defensive game as a whole, with Carlo or not, was not where it needed to be against the Capitals.
John Carlson gave his group a 1-0 lead at 12:00 of the first period while left wide open at the top of the zone. Dylan Strome tapped the puck over to Carlson who blasted it past Swayman from the point for the ultimate game-winner.
“They looked like a team that was fighting for a playoff spot, we looked like a team that was already in playoffs,” Charlie Coyle said to the media Monday. “That wasn’t good. We didn’t have our sense of urgency that we usually have.”
The Bruins were unable to find a spark in the final 40 minutes of the matchup. The Capitals clogged up the neutral zone, and Boston struggled mightily on breakouts. The Bruins’ penalty kill got a look at 6:12 of the third period after Kevin Shattenkirk was called for tripping, but their slumping power play saw no time as Washington stayed disciplined.
“I think they were simple in their D-zone,” Shattenkirk said Monday to the media. “Not allowing us to really establish a forecheck, and then from there, they had a heavy forechecking game tonight. I thought they were just very well connected.”
Nic Dowd sealed the 2-0 victory with an empty-net goal at 19:47 of the third period. The forward stripped Brad Marchand of the puck while the captain was trying to transition out of the defensive end, and backhanded the unassisted tally into the back of the net.
The Bruins will have to put together a much more complete, detail-oriented showing Tuesday against Ottawa to regain some momentum heading into the playoffs. The Senators, who sit 26th in the league standings, are out of the playoff race.
“I think it was really important that we had a game like tonight this late in the season,” Swayman said Monday to the media. “It’s what we are going to see on Saturday, and we have to match that intensity.”
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