Game #13 Recap: Caps 5 Boston 3

The Capitals prevailed over the Boston Bruins at Verizon Center last night with a 5-3 victory. The team had its best effort of the season for the first two periods and led 3-0 going into the third and chased Boston goalie Tim Thomas to the bench. Successive penalties to  Jason Chimera and John Erskine were both converted into Boston goals early in the third. Following a slew of bad turnovers Boston tied the game on a 2-on-1 break. This led Head Coach Bruce Boudreau to lift Michael Nuevirth from the net and insert Braden Holtby for his first NHL action ever. Holtby held down the fort stopping all 4 shots he faced in the final 10:09. At the 13:25 mark, Capitals rookie defensemen John Carlson blasted a slap shot into the Boston net to give the Capitals the lead. The Caps held off the Bruins the rest of the way and got an empty net insurance goal from Alex Ovechkin.

Of Note:

• Alexander Semin was stellar for the Capitals. He had 1 goal, 6 shots on goal and 3 takeaways, as well as, some nice defensive work including a nice back check that stopped a Boston odd man chance. His goal was a thing of beauty. While on the penalty kill he forced the puck out of the zone at the blue line, kept his feet moving and pushed the puck through the neutral zone setting up an odd man break, and converted on a sweet passing play between him and Mike Green.
• Green had a great night also. He had a goal and an assist,, blocked 3 shots and was solid defensively.
• The Caps penalty killers had a rough go of it allowing 2 goals on 3 chances but got the shorty as well.
• Since he entered the game with the score tied Braden Holtby got the win for the Capitals.
• The Caps put 39 shots on the Boston net including 17 in the second period. The defense allowed only 18 shots on the Capitals net while blocking 18 on the night.
• Boyd Gordon put out a superb effort set up the game-winning goal with a face-off win. Gordon was named the Game's #2 star.
• Tyer Sloan opened the scoring in the second with his first goal of the season. It was Sloan's first game back from a lower body injury.
• With 2 assists on the night Nicklas Backstrom passed Steve Konowalchuk to move into 18th place on the Capitals All-Time Assist list. Backstrom has a 197 career assists with the Caps.
• Jeff Shultz was +3 and picked up an assist on the Ovechkin goal.

Official Recap
Game Summary
Event Summary