![]() After Christmas, their top players have stepped up and silenced that chatter.īrad Marchand is playing out of his mind, while David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron, and Taylor Hall are all contributing behind him. Many thought the Bruins would be an afterthought after an incredibly mediocre start to the season. Either way, I don’t think whoever is in net will make a difference, as they’ve played a similar game all season. Vanecek, meanwhile, has been mildly superior with a. 903 SV% and a poor -3.3 GSAx (Goals Saved Above Expected). Vanecek has received the majority of the starts recently, so I expect Samsonov to take the crease. All season, Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov have split the starts and have handled it fairly well. In net, the goalie carousel will never be easy to figure out. They allow a decent amount of goals and high danger chances, but not enough to be concerned about. The Caps bode fairly well on the defensive end. They’re scoring at only a 15.5% clip - the fifth-worst mark in the league. It’s rather surprising how poor it is on the power play, though, since Ovechkin is such a threat. It's a top-10 team in expected goals per 60 minutes with a 2.86 xGF and is the 11th-best at creating high danger chances. Washington has been exceptional all season generating plays. Missing those key pieces is likely what has kept Washington from thriving after Christmas, and once they return, I expect the dry spell to end. The problem is, they will be without Carlson, Conor Sheary, Anthony Mantha, and potentially TJ Oshie in this matchup. With a team led by Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Tom Wilson, and John Carlson, what else would you expect? They’re consistently a threat to score three or more goals a night. You’d be hard-pressed to find a team with more offensive firepower than the Capitals. Their game against the Canes is most likely an aberration, as Boston is playing its best hockey all season and has its eyes set on the playoffs. In their last 10 games, the B’s boast an 8-2 record even after getting pummeled by the Hurricanes Tuesday night. On the contrary, the pause may have been the best thing for the Bruins. 500 hockey is the worst it’ll get, there shouldn’t be much worry. Every team has a spell during the season when they’re not playing their best, but the Caps will manage their way out of it. It's gone 4-4-2 in its last 10 but still holds strong on its playoff spot. ![]() Since coming out of the Christmas pause, Washington has played shaky hockey at best. It’ll be the second time these two teams square off against each other, as the Bruins pulled off a convincing 7-3 victory a week and a half ago. The Bruins host the Capitals in an Eastern Conference bout Thursday night at TD Garden in Boston. ![]()
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