The Bruins lost 5-3 at Washington tonight. The first period was scoreless, but the Capitals outshot the Bruins by a good margin. Milan Lucic missed an open net early on, and the Bruins' lone highlight of the period was killing off a 5-on-3 penalty.
Things changed in the second, however, as the Capitals scored three times. A Tyler Sloan shot went through a sea of bodies for the game's first goal. That was a hard shot for Tim Thomas to see. The second goal was a result of too much attention being given to Alex Ovechkin; two Bruins collapsed on him, and the puck went to Mike Green, who deked Gregory Campbell to make it 2-0. Alexander Semin made it 3-0 on a shorthanded goal late in the period, which was helped by some very sloppy play by the Bruins.
In the third, things changed. Looking for a spark, Claude Julien pulled Tim Thomas for Tuukka Rask. Thomas wasn't playing badly, but he wasn't exactly standing on his head, either. At first, it seemed to work. Michael Ryder opened with an early power play goal, and then Nathan Horton followed close behind with another. Then, Shawn Thornton followed with some impressive (and unexpected) stickwork, with a backhander that made it 3-3.
Alas, the Bruins had shot their bolt by that point. John Carlson beat Rask from the point on a slapper, and an empty netter made it 5-3.
After the game, Julien said, when asked about the goalie switch, "it had nothing to do with Tim, okay?" The Bruins had been listless through most of the first two periods, so it would not be a surprise if he made the switch to fire to fire up the team.
The Bruins will face St. Louis Saturday night.