Caps Gameday - Caps/Bruins Preview

Boston Bruins at Washington Capitals
Saturday, March 8th, 2008, 1:00 PM
TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts
TV: CSN
Last Meeting: 3/3/2008, Caps win 10-2.

Just five days after being embarrassed by the Capitals 10-2 on the Verizon Center's ice the Bruins will do their best to return the favor in Boston, as the Capitals try to keep pace with the Carolina Hurricanes in a Saturday matinée match up.

One quick note before I get to the gameday preview: James Mirtle has a great piece up on his blog about Olaf Kolzig that I'd encourage any Caps fan to read.

About the Opponent

Boston Bruins: 35-25-7, 77 points, 3rd in the Northeast Division, 7th in the Eastern Conference.

Team Leaders
Goals: Marco Sturm (23)
Assists: Marc Savard (60)
Points: Marc Savard (74)
Plus/Minus: tie - Dennis Wideman and Zdeno Chára (+11)
Penalty Minutes: Zdeno Chára (108)
Fights: Milan Lucic (12)

Random Bruins Fact
Former Bruins center Phil Esposito was the first player in NHL history to score 100 points in a season.

Random Bruins Statistic
In the 1970-71 season Bobby Orr had a plus/minus rating of +124.

Keys to the Game

Washington
Score first and score early. The Bruins have lost their last three games, giving up a combined 19 goals, including 10 to the Capitals on Tuesday. If the Capitals get a couple early on it might be hard for the Bruins to avoid a 'here we go again' feeling.

Bruins
Score first. With the Bruins having the difficulty they have had on defense recently and the 10 goal night the Capitals posted against them earlier this week the team that scores the first goal is going to have a huge advantage in this one.

Players to Watch

Washington
Boyd Gordon - David Steckel's injury is going to hurt the Capitals more than a lot of people might realize. Bruce Boudreau and the Caps will turn to Gordon to pick up some of the slack both in the faceoff circle on the penalty kill until Steckel can return.

Bruins
Tim Thomas - The Bruins all-star netminder is 0-2-0 with a .744 save percentage and a 10.54 goals against average.