Bruins fall to Capitals in OT 3-2

The Bruins were able to hang with the best team in the land for 60 minutes, but a poorly-timed penalty by Dennis Wideman set up a power play goal by Brooks Laich to give the Washington Capitals a 3-2 overtime win over the Bruins on Monday night.

The Capitals got on the board first 7:34 into the game. Alex Ovechkin lugged the puck into the zone along the left wing boards and fed a pass to Nicklas Backstrom. Tuukka Rask got a piece of the shot, but the puck barely trickled over the line before Dennis Wideman could sweep the puck away. After a lengthy delay to review the play, the call on the stood.

The Bruins tied it up at 1-1 with 1.6 seconds left in the first period on a goal by Dennis Wideman. Patrice Bergeron won a draw at the left circle back to Zdeno Chara. Chara slid the puck to Wideman at the right point for one-timer that found it's way past Jose Theodore for his 5th goal of the season.

Patrice Bergeron made it 2-1 on a nifty cut-back move to beat Jose Theodore for his 19th goal of the season. Milan Lucic and Mark Recchi picked up assists on the goal.

The Capitals got back to even at 2-2 with 28.8 seconds left in the second period. Mike Knuble jammed the puck home in the middle of a scrum in front of Tuuka Rask after a backhand centering pass by Alex Ovechkin. Somewhere Bob Lobel is screaming "why can't we get players like that?"

After a scoreless third period, the teams headed for overtime. Dennis Wideman took a poorly-timed high-sticking call 24 seconds into overtime, setting up a 4 on 3 power play for the Caps. It only took the Capitals 20 seconds on the man advantage to find the pack of the net. Alex Semin's one-timer from the left circle missed wide and deflected off Brooks Laich in front. Laich controlled the puck and banged it home into a virtually empty net for the game-winner.

Notes:

- One of the hosts of Versus' Daily Line called the Bruins "the A.C. Green of the NHL" due to their inability to score. If you don't get that awesome reference, Google "A.C. Green"

- The Capitals sat defenseman Mike Green to give him some rest after wrapping up the best record in the NHL and home ice throughout the playoffs.

- I'm not sure how no penalty was called when Chara took a high-stick from Alexander Semin in the second period. That should have been 4 minutes.

- Tuukka Rask was named the NHL's 3rd Star of the Week after going 2-1-0 with a shutout to go along with a .977 save percentage and 0.55 GAA.

- We finally found out the real story behind Adam McQuaid's injury. It turns out he got a concussion after tripping over his luggage in his hotel room.

- Capitals are 28-4-6 since Alex Ovechkin was named captain.

- Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron were on the ice for all 5 goals.

- After 20 minutes of being a hero, Dennis Wideman is the goat again.

- Tuukka Rask made 27 saves.

- I thought Milan Lucic looked like his old self tonight. He was throwing hits (4 recorded hits) and was very involved in the play.

- Lucic, Bergeron, Recchi, Wideman, and Chara were on the ice for all 4 goals in regulation.

- Matt Hunwick logged a game-high 29:00.

- Travis Hughes of Broad Street Hockey wrote a great breakdown of what each playoff bubble team needs to do to make the postseason. Note: This was written before tonight's game.

- The Bruins now have 3 games left in the regular season (vs. Buffalo on Thursday, vs. Carolina on Saturday, and @ Washington on Sunday).

- For more on tonight's game, check out Japers' Rink.