Bruins vs. Capitals 9/26/21 PRESEASON RECAP: DeBrusk, Haula put bullets in the Caps in shootout!

First Period:

Things didn’t start especially auspiciously, as the Bruins were sluggish in front of their rookie goaltender, and it paid off to the Caps as a rebound popped out to Joe Snively, who popped it right past Swayman to put the Caps up 1-0.

Then, Jake DeBrusk enraged a lot of people by not only being johnny on the spot in a net-front scramble, but by scoring a very ugly goal from said pile! 1-1 Tie!

Guess he can handle some parts of the physical game, now can’t he?

Anyhow, the clock struck zero 7 minutes later, and both teams went to the locker rooms to get ready for period 2.

Second Period:

The B’s got off to a great start thanks to John Moore getting a good shot off from the point, and Erik Haula tipping it past Copley to put the Bruins up 2-1!

Excellent faceoff win for Haula as well.

No further scoring occured, Jeremy Swayman swapped out halfway through the period for Troy Grosenick, and we move to the third period.

Third Period:

This period...was less than ideal.

It started in earnest with Michael McIlrath throwing an elbow directly into Steven Fogarty’s head, and he went down hard, causing him to be sent to the back and McIlrath sent home with 5 and a game.

Dick move.

And then, as if to cap off a gross series of things occuring, the Caps managed to tie it up as Garet Pilon, a definitely real person, put an admittedly pretty sick backhander past Troy Grosenick on a 4-on-4 situation, tying the game 2-2.

Both teams tried their best, but around the 3 minute mark it became clear both wanted to get in some 3-on-3/shootout practice, and then didn’t really do much to prevent it in the final minutes, leading to regulation’s end, both teams tied.

Overtime and the Shootout

After-Regulation play is such a nail biter. It calls upon someone to get past a lot of randomness to create a win for their team, nobody knows what kind of chance will create it. Someone needed to call game.

Jake called game.

Game Notes:

• Your 5v5 TOI leader was Connor Clifton! He logged 16:52 of icetime, with Vaakanainen close behind with 16:18.
• Lotta dads on Facebook are probably not very happy about the fact that Jake DeBrusk was man of the match for this game; he was all over the ice when he was out there, he played like he wanted to score in front of the net and wouldn’t you know it? He did. Preseason’s still young, but we gotta give the dude credit; he showed up ready to play.
• Both goalies gave up a single goal, and given how the net-front defense was looking tonight the Bruins should be thanking their lucky stars that it was only one per. Both played very well but they were asked to do so in a big way.
• Erik Haula? Pretty damn good. Had a pretty solid possession wise, but small sample sizes, as we know. Still has a rocket shot in those hands, though. I think this guy might have a very good year with his new adopted son Jake.
• The line of Lauko, Steen and Lysell were endless fun. May not have scored, but they sure wanted to; great passing and stickhandling around defense, forcing the Caps to sit back and try and support the goalie rather than try to spark transition. If they get a little more time, I think Lauko and Steen will get their chance to be depth forwards by the end of preseason. Lysell in the meantime should prooooobably consider playing for the Providence Bruins with the way he played on North American ice tonight. Absolutely fantastic stuff, I wanted to watch these guys more.
• Awful luck for Steven Fogarty, who had his night ended prematurely. It’s preseason, come the hell on. Play hard for your job, not like a punk-ass. Just because one player on that team plays like that doesn’t mean you have to. Wilson sucked tonight anyway.
• Tom Wilson is a danger to the league, that’s all.
• Bruins will return to Boston for practice, then head back down to New York to play the Rangers this Tuesday. Puck drop is at 7pm.

We’ll see you there!