POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Bruins 5, Caps 1

One Of Those Days - Over the course of even a shortened season, every team is going to have some rugged nights, and Friday's game against the Bruins in Boston was one of those for the Capitals, who saw their four-game winning streak halted in a 5-1 loss to the B's.

Friday's game marked just the third time in 23 games this season that Washington did not own a lead at some point, and when the Bruins scored their third goal of the middle stanza to go up 4-0, it marked the largest deficit the Caps have faced in any game this season.
While the end result was ugly, the game didn't start out that way at all.
Friday night's game against the Bruins in Boston started in relatively fine fashion for the Capitals. They played a strong first period, but trailed 1-0 after the first frame on a Brad Marchand goal in the back half of the opening frame.
On what was somewhat of a broken play, Bruins center Patrice Bergeron made a nifty one-handed pass to set up Marchand, and the Boston winger made a heck of a backhand shot from the slot, going bar down to put his team on top. Marchand had to make a heck of a shot on that play, because Caps goalie Vitek Vanecek also had a strong first; the netminder stood his ground on the shot and Marchand's moves, forcing him to make a nearly perfect shot.
While Wednesday's Washington-Boston game produced a combined total of only 20 shots on net in the first 40 minutes, the two clubs hit that total through 20 in Friday's game, with the Caps holding a 12-8 advantage.
"I personally think it would be a different game if we would capitalize on those chances we had in the first period," says Washington defenseman Zdeno Chara. "I thought we had a lot of Grade A scoring chances and that we could easily score two or three goals in the first, and I'm sure it'd be a different game."
Late in the first, Boston blueliner Brandon Carlo had to be helped off the ice after absorbing a hit from Tom Wilson in the left-wing corner of the Boston end of the ice. There was no penalty on the play, but Carlo did not return and was transported to an area hospital for observation.
The Bruins were clearly fired up over the loss of their teammate, and Boston defenseman Jarred Tinordi and winger Trent Frederic fought Wilson separately, in the second and third periods, respectively.
Boston seized momentum in the second and built a 4-0 lead on three goals that looked far too easy, and on which Vanecek had virtually no chance. He yielded the crease to Ilya Samsonov after the fourth Boston goal, and Samsonov was touched for the fifth Bruins tally early in the third.
"There was a time of the [second] period where we did some mistakes, and a team like that is going to take advantage of it," says Caps left wing Jakub Vrana, who scored Washington's lone goal of the game. "They scored a couple of goals there, and we kind of struggled to find our game back."
For the Caps, it's now about getting back to the way they had been playing prior to Friday night's second period. Washington is 3-1-0 on its five-game road trip, and it will seek to put forth a better performance in Philadelphia against the Flyers on Sunday night in the finale of the trip.
"We just need to stick with the structure and make sure we have a really strong effort," says Chara. "You know it's going to happen; you're going to have games like this. But we can't be sitting on that, we've got to bounce back, put that behind us and get ready for Philly."
The 700 Club -Caps center Nicklas Backstrom recorded his 700th career assist in the NHL on Washington's only goal of the night, a Vrana tally from the right dot with just over six minutes remaining in the third period.
"Obviously I lied to you guys before," joked Backstrom after the game. "I said I was going to enjoy it, and here we are losing 5-1. It's tough when you lose a game like this, and the way we played, too. Hopefully we can get a win next game so I can think about it more."
Backstrom and T.J. Oshie combined to win a puck battle in the corner and Backstrom slipped a pass to Vrana, who spoiled Jaroslav Halak's shutout bid with 6:24 left in the game.
"It's a pleasure to play with a player like Nick," says Vrana. "And obviously I was really happy for him even though the outcome wasn't in our favor as a team. And I know individual stats when you have a game like that - he is a great team player, and I know he didn't care at the time about that, he cared about the team. But I was happy for him because that accomplishment, it's not really about this game, it's about the whole career he has, and I'm really happy for him."
In picking up the milestone apple in his 979th career NHL game, Backstrom becomes the 23rd fastest player to reach the milestone, the 54th player to reach that plateau and the first player in Washington's franchise history to do so. Of the 25 players who have reached the 700-assist level, 23 are enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The two who are not are Backstrom and Sidney Crosby, neither of whom will be eligible for the Hall until three years post-retirement from the NHL.
Over the course of his illustrious NHL career, Backstrom has assisted on goals scored by 56 different Capitals skaters, with current teammates Alex Ovechkin (266 assists), Oshie (66 assists) and John Carlson (43 assists) heading up that list.
Backstrom's first NHL assist came in the first period of his first NHL game, on Oct. 5, 2007 in Atlanta. Just 19 at the time, Backstrom helped set up Michael Nylander's power-play goal in the Caps' season opener against the Thrashers.
With 700 assists since the beginning of the 2007-08 season, Backstrom leads all NHL players in helpers over that time span. His average of .72 assists per game ranks second among all active players and is tied for the 13th highest rate in League history among those players with 700 or more assists.
Backstrom is the fifth Swedish-born player to reach the 700-assist plateau, following in the skate-steps of Nicklas Lidstrom (878), Henrik Sedin (830), Mats Sundin (785), and Daniel Alfredsson (713).
By The Numbers - Alex Ovechkin led the Capitals with 22:41 in ice time, with eight shots on net, and with nine shot attempts … Wilson and Chara led the Caps with five hits each … Nic Dowd and Chara led the Caps with two blocked shots each … Dowd won nine of 11 face-offs (82 percent).