POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Bruins 4, Caps 2

Start Me Up - Last Sunday afternoon in New Jersey, the Caps struggled out of the gates in a matinee match against the Devils. In the first period of that game, the Caps were outshot 17-5 and they were out-attempted 28-11 at 5-on-5. But thanks to some stalwart netminding from Ilya Samsonov and a heady play and sublime goal from T.J. Oshie, they went to the room 1-1 after the first 20 minutes and went on to win 5-4.

Two nights later on Long Island, the Caps were outshot 12-7 in the first period and were out-attempted 18-10 at 5-on-5. Again, they managed to get to the first intermission all even, at 0-0 before losing the game 1-0.
On Thursday night, the Caps hosted the Boston Bruins at Capital One Arena, and their first-period luck ran dry. They were outshot 17-9 in the first and were out-attempted by 21-8 at 5-on-5. But this time, the Bruins scored a pair of 5-on-5 goals and those were the difference in a 4-2 Boston win.
"I would say we lost in the third, but definitely we didn't play our best in the first," says Caps defenseman Zdeno Chara. "I think we have to realize that this team is playing with kind of a must win mentality for a while, and definitely they were the better team in the first period and we've just got to realize that from teams from now on, we can expect that, so we have to come out much better than we did tonight."
Doing the math of the last three first periods shows Washington on the wrong side of a 46-21 disparity in shots on goal and a whopping 67-29 difference in 5-on-5 shot attempts, giving the Caps a feeble 30.2 percent of all shot attempts at even strength in the opening periods of those three contests.
At this stage of the season - more than two-thirds of the way through a truncated 56-game schedule - six if the eight teams in Washington's division still hold reasonable playoff aspirations. And 14 of the Caps' final 16 games are against those teams. Playing well only over the final 40 minutes of games - or the first 40, in some other recent instances - isn't often going to lead to desirable results at night's end.
"I think overall we've got to have better starts," says Caps center Nicklas Backstrom. "You saw a little bit of what we can do there in the third when we got going; we played quicker and skated good. But we've got to have better starts."
Second Helping - Both Washington goals came 19 seconds apart on a 5-on-3 power play. Alex Ovechkin scored the first of those, a one-timer from his left circle office. That goal was the 266th power-play goal of his NHL career, moving him one ahead of Hockey Hall of Famer Brett Hull (265) for second place on the League's all-time power-play goals ledger.
With Hull in the rear view, only Dave Andreychuk (274) remains for Ovechkin to conquer on that list.
The F Street Shuffle - For each of the last 28 games - the equivalent of half of this abbreviated season - the Capitals have dressed the same six defensemen. Those six blueliners have mainly stayed with the same partners over that span as Washington has rolled up a 19-8-1 record, the seventh best in the League over that stretch. But coming off some inconsistent performances in recent games, Caps coach Peter Laviolette and his staff opted to shuffle the defensive deck just a bit for Thursday's game, swapping southpaw-shooting Dmitry Orlov and Brenden Dillon on the top two pairings, and putting Orlov alongside John Carlson and Dillon with Justin Schultz.
After the game, Laviolette explained his thinking in making the switch.
"To give it a new look, to give it a different look, more than anything," says Laviolette. "I think when you're winning and you're moving along and everything is moving in the right direction, the score says that things are moving correctly and the scoring chances for and against, and the zone time and everything is pointing in the right direction, then you leave it alone.
"But for me it hasn't in half of the last six games, or six or seven games. So we made changes to move it and give it a different look."
Double Down - Washington scored a pair of 5-on-3 goals in the same game on Thursday against Boston, doing so for the first time since Dec. 3, 2009 against the Florida Panthers in the District. Nicklas Backstrom scored on a two-man advantage in the second period of that game and Brendan Morrison did so in the third period, two of the three power-play goals the Caps scored en route to a 6-2 win over the Panthers that night.
By The Numbers - John Carlson led Washington with 28:38 in ice time, his highest total for a 60-minute game this season … Tom Wilson led the Caps with five shots on net, and Wilson and Carlson led the way for Washington with eight shot attempts each … Orlov led the Caps with five hits … Carl Hagelin led the Caps with two blocked shots.