For the second straight game, the Boston Bruins are set to face a team that is fresh off making major moves ahead of Friday’s NHL trade deadline.
Coach Marco Sturm’s club still occupies the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot but has seen its lead shrink to a single point following a 6-3 loss Thursday at the Nashville Predators. The Bruins look to get back on track when the Washington Capitals pay a visit to Boston on Saturday afternoon.
Since taking a 3-2 loss to the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday, Washington has traded away two cornerstone players in forward Nic Dowd and defenseman John Carlson.
Carlson, who is the franchise’s all-time leader in games played and points among blueliners, was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks overnight early Friday morning.
“Probably the toughest day in my career, I’m talking about personal-wise,” captain Alex Ovechkin said, reacting to losing his 17-year teammate. “It sucks. It’s sad.”
Despite back-to-back losses, a win Saturday would bring the Capitals within two points of the Bruins. However, both the Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators currently sit between them in the standings. Washington has 19 regular-season games remaining, tied for the fewest in the East.
Could things have been different without this past week’s results? Now, the Caps will never know. But they remain in the hunt, with moving forward as the only option.
“That’s going to be our challenge. … And we will (respond),” said Washington coach Spencer Carbery, pointing to Ovechkin and Dylan Strome as key leaders. “They want to win and they want to compete. … I know the character of our group. We’re going to leave it out there. Just because of Nic Dowd and John Carlson, this group will not pack it in.”
The Capitals did make additions to their group, acquiring defenseman Timothy Liljegren from the San Jose Sharks and forward David Kampf from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for draft picks.
A year after captain Brad Marchand’s trade to the Florida Panthers headlined a series of major March moves out of Boston, the Bruins will look to move past Thursday’s tough result with an unchanged NHL roster.
Boston did complete a two-for-two prospect swap with the Philadelphia Flyers and then acquired 23-year-old forward Lukas Reichel from Vancouver in exchange for a draft pick.
Reichel is a former first-round pick who has played 19 NHL games with Vancouver and the Chicago Blackhawks this season, although he will report to AHL affiliate Providence.
“Hopefully (the players) take a deep breath and just pin their ears back and realize, ‘Hey, we’ve been good enough to be right where we are right now, in the playoff position, and let’s hold on to it,'” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said.
Nashville scored four second-period goals and never looked back in Thursday’s game.
“I didn’t like our mentality going (into Thursday’s game),” Sturm said. “It’s always tough when the opponent is missing or scratching guys. I’ve seen it a lot of times before. It’s not like we took it lightly, but the guys who came in, they worked extremely hard. They worked more than us. That was the difference.”
“Just wasn’t good enough,” defenseman Charlie McAvoy added.
The Bruins and Capitals have not met since the Oct. 8 season opener, which Boston won 3-1. They’ll conclude their series with another all-important game in the playoff race next Saturday in Washington.
