Recap: Caps defeat Bruins in 7

Joel Ward scored 2:57 into overtime to lift the Caps to the second round of the playoffs.

The Washington Capitals have moved on to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a second consecutive season, thanks to Joel Ward's timely offensive contribution just under three minutes into overtime. This past summer, general manager George McPhee said he overpaid by roughly fifteen percent to get his hands on Ward, but also noted that he would rather overpay for a guy who could consistently perform in the playoffs. Last night, Ward crashed the net and earned his $3 million for the season with a single goal. This team clearly believes in itself and it showed throughout the series. The Caps took three of four in Beantown.

Let's revisit the keys to the series that were posted before game one and examine how the Caps and Bruins measured up.

1. Can Braden Holtby keep up with Tim Thomas?

Umm, yes. Holtby performed as well as you could ever expect a 22 year old rookie to play. He turned away 31 of 32 shots in game seven and 233 of 248 in the series. Tim Thomas also was good for the Bruins, even brilliant at times. Thomas saved 191 of the 207 pucks on net he faced. But the fact that Thomas didn’t player better than Holtby means Holtby won the battle.  Advantage: Holtby.

More importantly, Holtby showed off exactly why so many have compared him to Caps' goaltending legend Olie "The Goalie" Kolzig. Holtby played with a certain swagger to his game. He didn't allow his inexperience – or the Bruins’ physical play – to intimidate him at any point. This example of Holtby’s cool under pressure came during Wednesday's overtime clincher:

What a boss. Knocks down Peverley and then stares him down during a fake slash-to-be without flinching. Somewhere in the DMV area Olie is smiling ear to ear while watching this.


2. Which Tim Thomas shows up to play?


As noted, Thomas was good for 191 saves on 207 shots total. But was it enough? Statistically, nobody is going to complain with their goaltender putting up a .923 save percentage in the playoffs. Statistically, Thomas' 2.14 GAA was plenty good to give the Bruins a shot to win this series. Really though, Thomas needed to come up with more to allow his team to win.


During game 6 in DC, Caps fans got a huge scare when the once beatable Thomas began to show signs of why he was last year's playoff MVP. Thomas robbed Marcus Johansson on what looked to be an empty net tap in, diving across the crease Superman style to knock a puck away with the paddle of his stick. Thomas continued to frustrate Capitals' shooters, consistently challenging the angle with an unparalleled aggressiveness. However, the Boston netminder also gave up a few goals that his teammates would likely expect a four-time All-Star to stop. Overall, Thomas didn't live up to expectations, and the Caps were able to narrowly squeak out of the series and guarantee that there will be a new Stanley Cup Champion this year.


3. What does Dale Hunter do about Boston's desire to match Chara and Seidenberg against Ovechkin and Backstrom?


Who told Dale about my blog? Because he had to have read it, right? Hunter was at times brilliant behind the bench, and made some very gutsy decisions which ultimately paid off in the form of a series win, even if he pissed-off his franchise player at times.


Hunter placed Ovechkin alongside Brooks Laich and Troy Brouwer in hopes that Ovechkin's bigger, more physical line mates would create more open space for the Russian winger. Meanwhile, Nick Backstrom centered Alexander Semin and Marcus Johansson on the second line, allowing the creative pair of Swedes to get Semin several scoring chances. The move ended up totaling in 16 shots on net and 3 goals for Semin, who has, in the past, virtually disappeared in the playoffs. Ovechkin contributed 2 goals of his own, along with 3 assists and a stunning 28 shots on goal. Not bad, Dale, not bad at all.


4. How do MoJo, Perreault, and Aucoin perform against Boston's bigger lineup?



This is quite the interesting question to answer looking back on the series. Marcus Johansson put up a goal and two assists in the series, but was also a minus-3. Mathieu Perreault only dressed for four games of the series. His thumb injury made room for Mike Knuble to establish himself back into the lineup on a regular basis. Perreault finished the series with no points, one shot on goal and a minus-1 rating. Keith Aucion and his 5'8", 171 lb. frame contributed one assist and five shots on goal, along with a minus-2 rating. So, how did they do?

Johansson showed off his solid puck-handling presence throughout the series, and allowed for the creation of open ice to free up Alexander Semin for many of his shots. Johansson's skating and puck-possession have come to strongly resemble that of line mate Nick Backstrom's, which all hockey fans know is a great thing if you're a Caps fan. He also sprung through two Bruins to free up a puck along the boards and fed Backstrom for a game winner in overtime in Boston.  So Johansson gets a check-plus in my book.

Perreault is a different story. No offense to Perreault, but his game seemed to be much less effective than that of 6'3", 229 lb. Knuble. Perreault was not a strong presence in the offensive or defensive zones against the larger, more physical Bruins team. That showed when Perreault was often knocked off a puck or forced into making a hurried, poor decision. On the other hand, Knuble came into the line-up and contributed a go-ahead goal early in the third period of game 5, and was responsible for the net traffic that led to Mike Green's fortunate bounce into the net in game 6. Oh, and he also blocked the dump in and led the rush that allowed Ward to tap in the series winner. These plays all resulted from a typical theme of Knuble's career: win the board battles and crash the net. Expect Knuble to remain in the lineup and Perreault to join Jeff Halpern & co. for some free food in the press box while on the healthy scratch list.


Keith Aucoin's series is perhaps the most intriguing. Aucoin wrapped up the series with a lone assist, 5 shots and a minus-2 rating, but numbers don't always tell the whole story. The Caps couldn't possibly have expected Aucion to be a puck-possession force along the boards in this series. His lack of size often becomes a large factor against the minor league journeyman. However, Aucoin's limited role, which largely consisted of fourth line duty, didn't keep him from contributing on the power play. Aucoin's creativity with the puck down low led to several scoring chances for the Caps on the man up.  And for that, we'll say that Aucoin "broke zero," especially since no one expected him to still be on the roster at this point of the season.


The Caps now face an imposing opponent in Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers. They've already taken down the defending champs and arguably the toughest "playoff hockey" opponent in the East in the Boston Bruins. Now the task will be finding a way to get some pucks by the brick wall of a goaltender standing between the pipes for the Rangers. Preview to come shortly.