The Capitals finished with 22 blocked shots in Game 1 of the series, which is something the Bruins would like to see go down.
View full sizeBoston Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg checks Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin into the boards in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal matchup.From the start it was no secret that the Boston Bruins Eastern Conference quarterfinal matchup with the Washington Capitals was going to be physical. And Bruins defensemen Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg didn't disappoint landing brutal hit after hit targeting Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin as he finished with only one shot on goal in a 1-0 overtime defeat Thursday night at TD Garden.
"Yeah, I mean that’s what it’s about - trying to shut him down," Seidenberg said. "He’s their biggest offensive threat and you’ve just got to play tough and disrupt his speed and time."
Seidenberg led Boston with six of the team's 40 hits while forward Shawn Thornton and defenseman Greg Zanon tied with five and Chara had four. Seidenberg also logged the most ice time of any player (23:52) on both teams.
One hit that stood out was in the neutral zone near the team benches where Seidenberg and Ovechkin plowed into each other and both landed hard on the ice. Him and his linemates Brooks Laich and Troy Brouwer can expect more of this in Game 2, which is slated for 3 p.m. Saturday in Boston.
Besides punishing checks, the Bruins defense was all-around shutdown as it finished 2 for 2 on the penalty kill and cleared every puck out of the zone following rebounds that bounced off Bruins goalie Tim Thomas' pads.
Boston also limited Washington to just two shots in the second period - the fewest allowed by the franchise in a playoff period since Carolina was held to two in the third period of a quarterfinal game in 1999.
Still though, the Bruins know adjustments need to be made and one is allowing less blocked shots as the Capitals compiled 22 of them.
"The one thing that they did well, to their credit, is I thought they did a lot of shot blocking, more than I’ve seen them do in the past," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "But that’s playoff hockey, right? You see guys get out of their comfort zone and do things that they don’t always do during the regular season and I thought they did a great job of that."
KREJCI BANGED UP: Bruins center David Krejci missed team practice Friday with a sore neck resulting from being hit by a pane of glass during the team's overtime celebration Thursday. Krejci said he's fine and expects to play Saturday. He also received stitches between his nose and mouth where he was struck by Capitals forward Jay Beagle's stick, which gave Boston a four-minute power play in the first period.
MCQUAID MISSING: Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid (eye) was not present at team practice Friday. There's no word on whether he'll play Saturday, but chances are the Bruins will roll out with the same defensive pairs of Chara-Seidenberg, Andrew Ference-Johnny Boychuk, and Zanon-Joe Corvo.
THE CHAIN: Bruins forward Chris Kelly was the first to show off the team's new token for being the best player on the ice. Ference bought a chain with 20 links to represent the number of players on the team with a lock connecting it like a necklace. On the lock is an engraved spoked B.