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PREVIEW: Bruins host Capitals for second game of weekend back-to-back

A return to their winning ways against Toronto will hopefully be a stepping stone towards facing league-leading Washington.

By Adam Denhard
NHL: Boston Bruins at Washington Capitals Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Just the Facts:

The Time: 7pm EST

The Place: TD Garden

Place to watch: NBCSWA, ESPN+, NESN

Place to Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub

Opposing SBNation Blog: Japer’s Rink

Know your Enemy:

  • 8 the Great Alex Ovechkin leads the team with 14 goals; defenseman John Carlson has 23 assists and 31 points on the season, tying him with David Pastrnak for fourth overall among all skaters.
  • While Boston just broke a four-game losing streak (while still earning two points from shootout losses), Washington just broke a thirteen-game points streak by losing to the Montreal Canadiens last night - mostly wins, and a couple OT/SO losses sprinkled in). With both teams coming off a back-to-back, expect there to be a bit of sloppiness in play.
  • Braden Holtby is doing fine. A little dip in what one could expect from him (3.06 GAA / .903 Sv%) but the team is playing well in front of him and he has plenty of time left in the season to return to at least average. Plus, he did this on Wednesday against Philly:

Kind of a weak desperation shot, but Holtby played it perfectly to prevent Tyler Pitlick from tucking in a goal that would have been replayed for at least a decade.

Game Notes

Back-to-back games at home would be one thing, but adding in travel to boot makes things interesting, for BOTH teams. At least Boston won’t have been away from TD Garden for both games of the back-to-back, as Washington will after losing to Montreal last night.

Though Brad Marchand rightfully owned the headlines coming out of last night’s game, there was a good showing from Boston’s other forward groups. Charlie Coyle played over 19 minutes, compared to Patrice Bergeron’s just-under 17 (likely an intentional conservation of energy, given the back-to-back) and scored and had an assist. David Krejci was also north of nineteen, and Anders Bjork skated for 16:29, a minute and a half more than any other game so far this season.

Oh, and Radko Gudas also plays for the Caps now. Maybe be prepared for that?

In This Stream

Complete Coverage: Capitals at Bruins, Nov. 16

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