Caps Close Homestand with Rematch vs. B's

February 1 vs. Boston Bruins at Capital One Arena
Time: 7 p.m.
TV: NBCSW
Radio: Capitals Radio 24/7, 106.7 FAN
Boston Bruins 5-1-2
Washington Capitals 6-0-3

The Caps kick off the February portion of their schedule and close out a season-long six-game homestand on Monday night when they host the Boston Bruins. The B's and Caps hooked up on Saturday night in the District, with Alex Ovechkin lifting Washington to a 4-3 victory in overtime. With the victory, the Caps extended their franchise record season-opening point streak to nine straight games (6-0-3).
In Monday's rematch, the Caps will certainly be looking for a better start. Boston dominated Saturday's first period, pouring 19 shots at Caps goaltender Vitek Vanecek and out-attempting Washington by a lopsided 29-12. Despite that disparity, the Caps were up 1-0 after the first, thanks to Nicklas Backstrom's fifth goal of the season late in the frame.
"I think Vitek was very strong," says Caps right wing Tom Wilson. "He kept us in it early, and we got some timely goals. Sometimes, that's what it takes. It's nice to have a goaltender back there to keep us in it when they're coming out pretty hard, and it just gave us a chance to get two points."
The Caps got off the rumble strips in the second, building their lead to 3-0 before the B's finally solved Vanecek with a five-forward formation on the power play late in the stanza, scoring on a Nick Ritchie deflection of a David Krjeci point shot through a maze of bodies.
That goal against halted a shutout run of 79 minutes and 53 seconds for Vanecek, a streak during which he stopped 53 straight shots dating back to Thursday's win over the Islanders. Boston netted a pair of goals in the third period of Saturday's game, but Vanecek finished the night with 40 saves on 43 shots and his fifth win (5-0-2) of the young season.
Vanecek joins Jim Carey (6-0-1 in 1994-95) as just the second rookie Caps goalie ever to earn a point in each of his first seven starts in the NHL.

"He was really good," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "He was good all night; I thought he played a strong game. They're a team that unloads a lot of pucks at the net. They were better than us in the first period - by pucks delivered, by speed, by battles. I thought we played a much better second period. But in the first period he gave us an opportunity to stay in the game and find a way to win at the end. He played a terrific game, and the start for him was really good."
Washington's top players also made contributions to the cause in Saturday's opener of the two-game set between the Caps and B's. Backstrom had a three-point game (a goal and two assists) to move into fourth place in the league's scoring race, Ovechkin had a goal and an assist, John Carlson also assisted on Ovechkin's overtime winner and Wilson extended his point streak to six straight games (four goals, four assists).
Washington didn't have the puck as much as it would like, and it was doubled up in shot attempts (88-43) on the night, but with key players still missing from the lineup every night, the Caps are steadily pulling points.
"We've got guys coming in and out of the lineup here and we've been dealt a tough hand," says Laviolette. "I'm not going to put an emphasis on [the shot disparity]. Do I want it to change to where we're controlling things a little bit more? I do. I give our guys a lot of credit for battling the way they have through some adversity here and collecting points.
"Boston's got a real strong team; they're a shot-heavy team and that's a challenge that we'll have coming up [on Monday]. But through it all, our guys battled. I thought we fought back in the second period. [The Bruins] tie it up late - and you could crumble at that point - and we win it in overtime. So it wasn't perfect [Saturday] and we need to be better. But through it all, with everything that's going on with our group, we're going to keep moving forward here."
If the Caps get any of their missing mainstays back in the lineup for Monday's game, defenseman Dmitry Orlov is the best bet. Washington conducted an optional practice on Sunday, and of the players who are injured or missing from the Caps' lineup, Orlov was the only full participant. Lars Eller skated again in a non-contact jersey, but none of the others were on the ice.

Boston's first-period onslaught in Saturday's game was on-brand; the Bruins have outshot the opposition by a combined total of 97-41 in the team's eight games this season, outscoring foes 5-3 in the first frame in the process.
Thus far this season, Boston and Colorado are the only two teams in the top five in the League in both shots on net and fewest shots allowed. The Bruins own the NHL's best shot different; they generate an average of 32.5 shots on net a night to rank fifth, and they've allowed the second fewest shots against (22.9 per game).
The Bruins mustered 34 of their 43 shots on net in the game's first 40 minutes, and Vanecek stopped 36 of the 37 shots faced at 5-on-5. In addition to Ritchie's power-play goal, Boston also scored the tying tally in the final minute of regulation in a 6-on-5 situation. Brad Marchand scored the Bruins' lone even-strength goal seconds after a face-off win that followed a Washington icing.
"At the end of the day, I thought we did a lot of things well - certainly well enough to get two points," says Boston coach Bruce Cassidy. "We got one, so we'll focus on getting two on Monday now."
Cassidy also spoke of the wide gap in shots and shot attempts between the two teams in Saturday's game.
"All in all, that's a lot of shot attempts and I don't think it was all power-play driven," he says. "Certainly that helped us; we had more than them, earned more than them, more [penalty] calls. That'll contribute a bit to it, but at the end of the day I thought we were trying to get inside, trying to get to the net.
"It's been a focus of ours, so one thing at a time. Let's get the attempts, let's get pucks through there, get second-effort goals, and then we'll start sort of picking apart when we should be shooting and not shooting, or from what particular angle. It's more about focus on hitting the net, especially with this goaltender. There are some rebounds there, we saw that today and it's important with young goalies that you force them to control the rebounds. So all in all, I thought it was a good offensive night for us."