By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff
Even though they were off to a strong 3-1-0 start, the Bruins had plenty of areas to improve entering Thursday night’s home opener against the Washington Capitals. They appeared to fix at least one of those areas in an impressive 4-1 win — the power play.
The B’s came into the game just 1-for-15 on the man advantage, but they went 3-for-4 on Thursday against a Caps penalty kill that was a perfect 25-for-25 coming in.
“We moved the puck, we moved our feet, we retrieved pucks and we outworked the PK, which is always important,” said forward and assistant captain Mark Recchi. “We had some great puck movement. The guys were jumping in holes and we were moving our feet, and when you do that, it creates space and openings. The guys did a good job of it.”
The power play gave the B’s a 1-0 lead with 27.5 seconds left in a first period largely dominated by Washington. A minute and a half after Matt Hendricks went off for a trip, Patrice Bergeron found Michael Ryder in the lower left circle with a beautiful pass that Ryder deposited into the back of the net for his second goal of the season. Bergeron’s assist, his first of two on the night, was his first point of the season.
“I think they thought [Bergeron] was gonna shoot, and they were just worried about getting to him,” Ryder said. “I just moved back a little bit, and he saw me perfect.”
With just under eight minutes to go in the second and Boston up 2-0, the power play struck again. This time it was the top unit. After several great chances had the sellout crowd of 17,565 on the verge of exploding, Nathan Horton walked into the slot and ripped a slap shot through a screen that goalie Semyon Varlamov got a piece of, but ultimately couldn’t keep out of the cage. It was Horton’s team-leading fourth goal and it extended his season-starting point streak to five games.
Captain Zdeno Chara capped off the special teams scoring with 16 seconds remaining in the game when he released a rocket from the point that Varlamov (30 saves) had no chance of stopping.
One of the biggest changes strategically on the power play was coach Claude Julien’s decision to move Recchi and Bergeron to the point on the first and second units, respectively.
“It was more about maybe getting some poise back there, some guys that could find some seams and just kind of relax the power play a little bit,” Julien said. “Bergie’s very comfortable back there and Recchs has played there before, so having them back there just kind of settled things a little bit. … I thought both those guys did a good job tonight.”
On the flip side of the special teams coin, the B’s penalty kill continued its great start to the season. It killed off all four of Washington’s power plays and has now killed 14 of 15 man-up chances on the season, including 14 straight.
The biggest reason for that PK success? Goalie Tim Thomas, the last line of defense. The veteran netminder, making his fourth straight start over Tuukka Rask, sustained his blazing hot start to the season by stopping 38 of the 39 shots he faced. He now leads the league in both goals-against average (0.75) and save percentage (.978).
The former Vermont Catamount showed off incredible lateral quickness all night, repeatedly leaving Caps players staring at the sky on the doorstep, wondering where their empty net had gone. Among the players filing numerous robbery charges against Thomas were Alex Ovechkin, Brooks Laich and former Bruin Mike Knuble.
“When a goaltender’s in the zone, you wanna ride him,” Julien said of his decision to stick with Thomas for the time being. “I think the way he played in Washington the other night [when he saved 35 of 36 shots in a 3-1 win], coming back with him was important. … I thought maybe mentally it would give us an edge to put him in net against them again tonight. And he proved us right. He was outstanding tonight.”
Thomas’ only mistake came midway through the third when he made an ill-advised breakout pass that was intercepted by Jason Chimera, who easily flicked it into the middle of the cage before Thomas could get back in position.
“It’s unfortunate that he lost the shutout bid, but at least he can blame himself and nobody else,” Julien quipped.
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