BOSTON — Desire and persistence at times will produce results not possible under normal circumstances, just as overconfidence can produce negative results.
The Washington Capitals played last night without four regulars because of injuries, including two-thirds of the first line. The Boston Bruins were at home, sitting on a three-game winning streak using the same goalie who had shut the Caps out in a shootout days earlier.
Alas, no Disney ending here. The Bruins took advantage of some Washington errors to overpower the outmanned Caps and take a 3-2 overtime victory in a game that was much tighter, rougher and well-played than they had banked on. Jakub Klepis and Alex Ovechkin had Washington’s goals. Glen Murray got the winner for Boston.
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Washington’s easy passage health-wise through the first portion of the schedule appears to have come to an end. First-liners Dainius Zubrus and Chris Clark were out last night, as were left wing Alexander Semin and defenseman Steve Eminger.
To fill the void up front, the Caps recalled left wing Tomas Fleischmann, who had been sent to Hershey a day earlier.
“Through the first two periods we were unbelievable,” said goalie Brent Johnson, who turned aside 35 shots. “Boston only had 16 shots in the first two periods, pretty good with those guys missing. We said in here, ’Hey, we’re missing some key guys’ and that was motivation.”
The injury news ranges from fair to bad to the unknown. Zubrus, who played just two shifts in the third period against Carolina on Friday, is not recovering as quickly as had been hoped from off-season knee surgery. It has bothered him since the season started and more than anything probably need a few days to rest it. He is expected to be ready for Atlanta on Wednesday.
Clark took a puck squarely in the mouth when the Caps played Boston on Wednesday and fractured his palate as well as lost an unknown number of teeth — his originals, not store-bought. He is also expected to be ready Wednesday.
Semin apparently was injured in the Florida game last Monday and left after two periods Friday night, aggravating what is thought to be a shoulder injury. He was placed on retroactive injured reserve and will be able to play Friday against Toronto.
The Eminger injury came out of the blue. Two hours before the game it was thought one of the seven available defensemen would be a scratch; at game time Eminger was reported to have “a body injury,” the diagnosis no more specific. He is being listed as day-to-day.
The injury situation left the coaching staff trying to make up lines and pairings involving players who may never have played together before. It worked far smoother than might have been imagined, although there were some strange combinations.
“No, it wasn’t disappointing,” coach Glen Hanlon said. “I don’t think a lot of people expected that out of us so we’ll take the point [from reaching overtime]. Our goalie played terrific but overall I thought it was a pretty well-played game. It’s been tough, five games in seven days, likely the busiest part of our schedule.”
The one constant Washington had Johnson, who has been as solid a backup as there is in the league this season. Unfortunately, another constant was also at work — Johnson’s teammates do not score for him in bunches; at times they don’t score for him at all. Johnson was magnificent last night, making enough spectacular stops — including a penalty shot try by Marco Sturm — to have his own highlight reel.
But in the end the Caps did not have the necessary firepower to compete. Zubrus, Clark and Semin account for 25 of the 57 goals the team had scored this season. There was no quick fix for that.
The fatal flaw last night, however, was one that has killed the team often this season — penalties, too many and at the wrong times. Zdeno Chara scored on a power play in the third period for Boston while the Bruins were up two men, with Ovechkin and Jamie Heward in the penalty box at the same time.
Note — Without Zubrus, an alternate captain, defenseman Brian Pothier wore an “A” for the first time as a Caps player.
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