Capitals Beat Defending Stanley Cup Champs to Advance

While this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs are one of the most unpredictable yet, one thing’s for certain: there will be no repeat of last year’s Finals. The Boston Bruins, the defending champs of the Cup from last year, were knocked out of the running by the Washington Capitals last night, in a heartbreaking 2-1 loss for the Bruins.

In a post-season that’s so far largely made up of underdogs what’s most surprising (or not) in this win isn’t that the defending champs lost in the first round, but that they lost to Washington, who played fairly terribly during the regular season, and just barely made it into the playoffs. But defenseman Karl Alzner says that they’re “over the hump,” and that “it’s nice to turn the page, and maybe we’re writing a new script.”

And they just might be, too. The series victory didn’t come because Boston had terrible performances, or lost their groove on the ice. All the games were incredibly close, with each being decided by only one goal and all with only minutes left in the game, if not in overtime. And that’s just how it was decided last night.

Just into a minute into OT, Boston had a great chance but couldn’t get it past rookie goalie Braden Holtby. Then Brian Knuble, who played for Boston several years ago, got a great chance to take it into the Bruins’ zone. That he did and while his shot at the net didn’t make it through, but the rebound picked up by Joel Ward with 2:57 left on the clock, did. That was all that was needed.

Bruins’ defenseman and captain Zdeno Chara said after the game, “It was very close. We shouldn’t be disappointed in what we did this season. We just came up short.”

Categorized in: NHL