Caps Battle Bruins in Boston

January 20 vs. Boston Bruins at TD Garden
Time:7:00 p.m.
TV: ESPN+, Hulu
Radio:Capitals Radio 24/7, 106.7 FAN
Washington Capitals (22-9-9)
Boston Bruins (22-12-2)

Two teams fresh from decidedly different Tuesday night experiences tangle in Boston on Thursday night when the Capitals make their lone trip of the season to Massachusetts. While Washington was taking a 4-3 overtime win over Winnipeg on Tuesday night at Capital One Arena, Boston was on the business end of a 7-1 home ice trouncing from the Hurricanes.
Tom Wilson's overtime goal put the Caps in the win column for the second time in seven games (2-3-2) and kept the team's consistency streak intact; the Caps have now gone 57 straight regular season games without suffering consecutive setbacks in regulation.
After spotting the Jets a 2-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game, the Caps came back to take a 3-2 lead early in the third. Tuesday's game marks the first time this season they've rallied from a multi-goal deficit to earn two points. Wilson and Alex Ovechkin each scored for the third straight game.
"I thought there were lots of positives," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "Like I said [after the game Tuesday] night, going down 2-0 wasn't a complete reflection of the first period. They scored a power-play goal off a bounce off the end board, and we probably gave up too many odd man rushes in the first period. But we generated a lot of chances, too.
"I liked the comeback and the compete in the game, and we never quit on it. They pulled the goalie and tied it up, and we never quit on it, came back in overtime and won a game. So for me, there's a lot of positives to pull from it. Some of the things that we can be better at, we talked about [Wednesday] morning, going into Boston. Our last game against them and then their game [Tuesday] night, we've got to know what we're up against here. So just things that we try to talk about and put on the table for today."

The "last game against them" to which Laviolette refers is a Jan. 10 game in Washington. After the Caps took a 2-0 lead in the first, Boston roared back for six straight goals en route to a 7-3 victory.
"For sure the overtime win was nice, particularly because we haven't done well in that regard," says Caps center Lars Eller. "So I'd like to think that gives it a little bit of a mental boost. But generally speaking, I think we should just be hungry to turn the last two weeks around, how we've been playing. [We need] everybody to do a little bit better.
"We're going to go up against a team here next game that we got a little bit embarrassed by at home, so I think you can find the motivation wherever you want, there's plenty of places. I think we're capable of better play than we did [Tuesday]; I know we got two points, but I think we've got another gear, level, pace to our game, and we've got to find it sooner than later."
Since starting the season with a 14-3-5 record in their first 22 games, the Caps have slipped some, going 8-6-4 in 18 games since. Tuesday's win over Winnipeg lifts them to 2-3-2 in their last seven, and the Caps want to push to collect as many points as they can get in these next seven games in 15 nights between now and the All-Star break.
"We've been inconsistent the last five or six games," says Caps defenseman Justin Schultz. "I thought we've played one of our best games of the year [Saturday] on the Island, then follow it up with a kind of a dud against Vancouver [on Sunday]. We're just looking for a little more consistency. We show it at points in the game when we're not playing well, we've just got to do it for a full 60 and hopefully string together a few wins here and get the confidence back."

Boston was down 5-1 after just 20 minutes of play in Tuesday's loss to Carolina. Playing in just his second game of the season, veteran Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask was dented for five goals on a dozen shots in the first period.
Before being humbled at the hands of the Hurricanes on Tuesday, the Bruins had won five straight and eight of their previous nine games. The B's outscored the opposition by a combined total of 40-21 in their first nine games of calendar 2022, before losing to Carolina.
The Bruins honored Hockey Hall of Famer Willie O'Ree prior to Tuesday's game, retiring his sweater No. 22 in a stirring pregame ceremony, and doing so 64 years to the day of his NHL debut with Boston when he became the first Black player to play a game in the League.