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Capitals take Game 5, Bruins a loss away from elimination 04.21.12 at 5:53 pm ET
By DJ Bean


Troy Brouwer’s second goal of the day put the Capitals one win away from eliminating the Bruins as Washington took a 3-2 series lead with Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Bruins.

With Benoit Pouliot in the box for a highly questionable slashing call, Brouwer beat Thomas with a wrist shot after the Bruins had come back twice in the game.

Johnny Boychuk wasn’t supposed to be on the Bruins’ power play, but they were lucky he was. With both Patrice Bergeron and Joe Corvo dealing with injuries, Tyler Seguin was moved up to the top power play unit and Brad Marchand and Boychuk were moved onto the second unit for a third-period power play with the B’s trailing by one. Boychuk tied the game with a blast from the left point that beat Brayden Holtby and send the Garden into a frenzy. The goal was Boston’s first power-play tally this series.

After a scoreless first period, Washington took a 2-0 lead on a couple of bad breaks for the Bruins in the second period. Joe Corvo was in obvious pain after blocking a shot from Marcus Johansson, and Alexendar Semin buried a rebound in front. Johnny Boychuk then contested a Jay Beagle shot, forcing it to skip and find its way past Tim Thomas. The Bruins then tied the game with two goals in a 28-second span, getting tallies from Dennis Seidenberg and Marchand.

The teams will have another day game Sunday when they take the ice for Game 6 at 3 p.m. at the Verizon Center. If necessary, Game 7 will be played on Wednesday at TD Garden.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

- Tyler Seguin once again had a better effort than he did in his first three games, but he wasn’t able to bury two big opportunities in the third period. He was robbed by Holtby on what was perhaps the save of the series when the rookie goaltenbder somehow got his right pad on Seguin’s rebound bid in front. Seguin had a similar opportunity in the final 10 minutes of the game but missed the net.

- Watch Patrice Bergeron going forward, as he played sparingly late in the game.

- The refs missed a call in the final minute of the first period, as Jason Chimera got Zdeno Chara with an elbow to the back of the head in the corner that went unpunished. Chara remained down on the ice for a few seconds before eventually getting up and skating off at the end of the period.

- Speaking of things missed, it looked like Alexander Ovechkin cross-checked a Bruins player up high again. This time, it came against Chara, as the two were going at it at the end of a shift in 4-on-4 play in the first period. Chara was the only player penalized on the play, as he was sent of for roughing, giving the Capitals a 4-on-3.

Chara now has four minor penalties in five games this postseason.

- Speaking of posts and special teams, Daniel Paille had his latest shorthanded breakaway in the first period when Chara was in the box. With Dennis Wideman giving chase, Paille had Holtby beat but hit the left post.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

- Once they took the 2-0 lead, the Capitals were in perfect position to sit back, shut it down in the neutral zone and block shots in their own zone. A pass from David Krejci to Lucic through the neutral zone changed that, as Lucic took the feed at the blue line, entered the Washington zone and dished to Seidenberg. Marchand tied it up 28 seconds later.

- The Bruins are now 1-for-15 — progress — on the power play this series after going 1-for-3 on Saturday. The top unit of Chara, Rich Peverley, Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic looked better than in games past, as they stayed in the Washington zone, moved the puck well and got solid opportunities. Chara had a couple of bombs from the top of the right circle on the B’s first power play, but one rang off the post and the other was stopped by Karl Alzner.

- Marchand did not play on the fourth line after skating with Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton in Friday’s practice and Saturday’s warmups. He skated with Patrice Bergeron and Rich Peverley while Daniel Paille remained with Thornton and Campbell.

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  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/ZVFM2HRNC5CTO2OUXD4XTX65O4 Dennis

     Will the last one to leave please turn out the lights. 

  • Take a seat Tim

    Crappy officiating…crappy goaltending.  Not a good mix for the B’s.  It’s Tukka time…let’s see if Rask can pitch a shutout.

  • Guesto

    PATHETIC penalty call with 2:50 left in the game..that happens during almost every play and they call it. I would prefer the refs not decide the game. I know i just seem bitter and biased but if it was the other way around id be thinking the bruins were lucky to get that call as well.

  • Henduhr

    B’s in 7.  No doubt.

  • Bad Goal Tending

    The refs didnt decide it. Terrible call, sure. But TT has to stop that puck. Not a difficult save. He was bad in the 3rd period

  • Jerryduteil

    The difference between last year’s playoff Bruins and this year’s is Tim-Me Thomas.  He won the cup for the Bruins last year and looks old & tired this year.  Bruins are one Tim-Me softy away from elimination.  

  • Con

    The Bruins are outplaying the Caps and the Refs keep making bad calls against the Bs.  That late call was pathetic.  Where were the Refs the entire game with all the chippy crap the Caps were committing?
    Bruins have no natural goal scorer.   You can outplay anybody, but when it’s time to score, you gotta score.  At least last year, we had Ryder who buried some big ones at key points in the playoffs.  Something to think about for next year…Iginla?

  • Sbr32188

    How about the fact that Thomas was TERRIBLE…that seems like something that went wrong 

  • tjeep86

    Thomas has allowed 11 goals in 5 games and made some huge saves, yes he gave up a softie, but maybe also he shouldnt have to stand on his head 24/7 and his team should go out and score some goals instead of crashing into him, Zannon, and not getting back on the back-check, Thornton, its funny how everyone throws Timmy under the bus with one soft goal and one bad rebound. How bout the B’s go out and dominate on the scoreboard instead of the neautral zone, wrist shots from the blue line at Haltby’s chest are not going to get it done!

  • Anonymous

    Point blank it is just bad business for the NHL if the Bruins repeat. They have outplayed the caps this whole series while a little luck has been on the caps side like maybe a goalie that was in the AHL a month ago is now looking like Patrick Roy and the fact the the refs seem to be under some type of orders to make sure not to call anything on the caps because it would screw with the whole parody/salary cap era in the NHL if the b’s were able to repeat the bruins are the better team the caps just flat out suck if it wasn’t for two phantom penalties the last two games this series would be over let the players decide the games in the playoffs.

  • Anonymous

    gotta put most of this on Thomas. True the call that put the Caps on the pp was questionable but Thomas should have stopped at least two of those goals. Had to laugh at the fact that no one commented on Kelley’s stick being held with about 20 seconds left as the puck trickled by him in front of the net. 

  • g.travers

    ummmm. what??????

  • Amgabber

    Right…all the calls went against the Bruins…please…spare me…stop the whining and just play…if they lose they lose…the Caps are not chopped liver…

  • g.travers

    they have several scorers (bergeron, seguin, marchand , lucic, krejci). those guys need to step up. b’s are not outplaying the caps at all. what games are you watching

  • Tito

    WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

  • Bostonjh

    Typical bruins fans blaming the refs, just suck it up the bruins suck

  • Bruinman86

    Simple:  Team A scored more goals than Team B.  Team A’s goalie played much better than Team B’s.  End of story.

  • Jclighteyez617

    It’s called bruins lol

  • Guesto

    It is not about whining and I am not saying the refs have orders to screw with the bruins. Yes Thomas shouldve had the last one and probably should have better controlled the rebound on the one before that but he still made a lot of big saves and its just frustrating because thats two games in a row the refs made a call on a very questionable call late in the third period. A call at that point in the game should not be questionable and thats two games in a row. Yes Thomas shouldve stopped it so the refs didnt decide it but the call gave them an advantage.And its also hard when there isnt consistency. When the bruins were attacking in game 4 and a capital was hurt they blew the play down and now when corvo was down they let them play on. Im not saying the refs made the wrong call yesterday but youd like consistency so its frustrating the bruins attack was foiled due to a player down while the capitals were able to continue attacking and eventually exploit the injury and score. Again, this maybe is whinning but I think its legitimate. With that being said, Game 6 is must win and the refs are going to call it how they call it and if the bruins are good enough they will overcome it. Im not letting them off the hook they still arent anywhere near full gear but hopefully it starts today and this is where they go on a tear

  • Guesto

    thats a very unintelligent statement. The bruins do not suck.

  • Bruinspaperchampions

    Tukka time? WOW…Typical “Loyal” Bruins fan

  • Bsox67

    Not on every play in open ice….. And he hooked/slashed his TWICE right in front of the refs close to center ice… Skate hard Pouliot and don’t reach…. That was laziness and or fatigue plain and simple… Can we ever hold players accountable or do we cry about the refs every single time?????..  I do my fair share of ref bashing…But not here…This ones on Pouliot and Thomas…

  • Henhuhr

    B’s in 7 troll

  • Henduhr

    When’s the last time your team hoisted the Cup troll?

  • Grayesun

    Hey ref’s…you don’t make a marginal call late in the 3rd period of a tied playoff game…let the players decide the game morons…and yes Thomas took a bad angle and gave up a cheap one…if the B’s don’t play a whole lot better in game 6, getting in front of the Caps net, not getting pushed around/cleared out…their season will end today…and they won’t be missed…too many “no shows”…where’s Recchi and Ryder?

  • Montrealer072

    It`s not rocket science……Caps have better goaltending……….

  • asl2002

    Everyone forgets that montreal almost had boston finished untill ryder made that save and started the comeback , scored the first goal then won it in overtime. It changed the momentum. To bad they forgot he is a playoff performer

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