Caps Host B's in Sunday Matinee
Caps finish set of back-to-backs and open two-game homestand against Bruins
The Capitals conclude a weekend set of back-to-backs on Sunday afternoon when they host the Boston Bruins at Capital One Arena. The Caps started the weekend with a 6-3 win over the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon.
Just past the midpoint of the third period, Caps winger Tom Wilson snapped a 3-3 tie with a shot from the left dot to the top right corner of the cage, giving the Caps a 4-3 lead. Washington added a pair of late empty-net goals to win for the third time in four games against Pittsburgh this season, extending its road winning streak to five straight in the process.
Washington returned home after sunset on Saturday and will have little time to rest and prepare to take on the Bruins, who have won both meetings between the two teams to date this season.
"We knew these were big games coming up, especially the division game," says Caps defenseman Dmitry Orlov. "It's huge. I think we played a good first period; maybe it was like 50/50, the chances, but the second and third we were better.
"It was a good battle from both teams. Sometimes it's luck or who is hungrier, and today it was us. It's a huge win for us, and we should build from that. [Sunday] is another big game. It's a quick turnaround, especially [against] a team that didn't play [on Saturday]. That makes a difference, so we need to have an even better start than [Saturday]."
Pittsburgh scored all three of its goals in the first period, including two of them in the final 90 seconds of the first frame. Taking a 3-2 lead into the second period, the Pens came out with fire and hemmed the Caps in their end for the first two minutes plus. With all five Washington skaters on the ice for more than two minutes to start the second, the Caps needed Ilya Samsonov to make four key stops over that stretch to keep them close.
The Pens short-circuited their momentum by getting into penalty trouble, and the Caps evened the game on Alex Ovechkin's 5-on-3 power-play goal ahead of the five-minute mark of the second. It was the first of four unanswered Washington goals that led to victory, the 50th of Samsonov's NHL career.
The Caps are 5-3-2 in the second half of back-to-backs this season. After Sunday's game with the Bruins, Washington has only one set of back-to-backs remaining this season, on the final weekend of the campaign when it visits the Islanders and the Rangers, respectively, in New York.
"[Facing] the Bruins is always a tough game," says Wilson. "We've built a pretty good rivalry with them over the years. They've got a lot of firepower. We'll get out of here, enjoy this one, but it's going to be a quick turnaround and be ready for [Sunday]."
Boston is coming in hot; the Bruins are 18-4-1 in their last 23 games and they've won four of their last five games. Washington is seeking its first win against the Bruins this season; Boston took a pair of regulation decisions from the Caps just 10 days apart in the middle of January. The B's blasted the Caps 7-3 in Washington on Jan. 10 and eked out a 4-3 win in Boston on Jan. 20 when Charlie McAvoy scored a power-play goal in the final minute of regulation.
The Bruins come to the District on the heels of a 2-1 overtime triumph over the Lightning in Tampa Bay on Friday night. Charlie Coyle scored at 3:37 of the extra session to give the B's the win, sending the Lightning to its fourth straight loss (0-2-2), its longest slide of the season.
Sunday's game is the finale of a four-game road trip for the Bruins, who claimed overtime wins in Columbus and Tampa, sandwiched around a 5-3 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit on Tuesday. Boston has won seven of its last nine road games (7-2-0), winning five of the seven - and each of the last three - in overtime or the shootout.
