The Capitals probably aren’t going to put yesterday’s win against the Boston Bruins on their “Best of 2024” list. With the Caps’ goofy scheduling recently, though – playing three games in four days, at all different times and in three different cities – it’s one they (and we) will certainly take.
Not even a minute and a half into the game, the Bruins got a incredibly lucky bounce off the dump in that hit the boards and instead of going behind the net, it popped out right in front of Logan Thompson for an easy goal:
That type of goal can be deflating, so a good response from the Caps was needed to make sure it didn’t spiral.
Not even 10 minutes later, the Caps’ second line (aka the Big Boy Line) of Aliaksei Protas, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Tom Wilson came up big with the tying goal.
Dubois skated the puck down the left wing into the Bruins’ zone and tried a sharp-angle shot that was stopped. He fought for the puck, but it was Tom Wilson who came in and was able to whack the puck back to Dubois behind the net. Dubois then used his great hockey sense to know that Protas was approaching the net. He fed the puck perfectly to Protas, who snagged the puck and ripped it over the Bruin’s goalie’s glove to tie the game up.
What made the goal so great it is it used every aspect of that line: Wilson’s forecheck, Dubois’s vision and passing ability, and Protas’s goal scoring. The Caps were able to tie the game up and gain some confidence and energy. Just five minutes later, Jakob Chychrun scored on the power play to give the Caps the lead and they never gave it back.
This team keeps showing that they can win in all sorts of ways. Sometimes they are dominant, sometimes they are tired, sometimes they have bad luck, sometimes they are hurt, etc. They just win games and that is a sign of a great team.