Holtby won this one.
And yet, I was watching the game summary from the BOSTON point of view, and while the Bruins had a big edge in total shots, the highlights of goalie saves were about equal; i.e., the quality chances would seem to have been pretty even. In other words, Halak kept the Bruins in the game about as much as Holtby kept the Caps ahead. The Caps' organizational mantra is, it isn't how many shots you get, it's how many quality chances you get. It frustrates fans sometimes when a guy with a decent look passes it up to try to get someone else a premium look -- but that is what they are coached to do.
The achilles heel of this team is becoming clearer and clearer, though -- face-offs. This and the PK have both suffered with the loss of Beagle, but he's the guy that was the odd man out when cap space ran out. The problem is, it's great to talk about "next man up" (another organizational mantra), but no one has even remotely stepped up to assume Beagle's best and most important contributions to the team. As much as the Caps are already overloaded with lower-line bodies, probably their greatest need at the trade deadline is a lower-line PK/faceoff man.
Also, as much as folks here are ragging on Burakovsky, and reasonably so, Eller and Orlov, as or more important players in the full scheme of things, are hurting us as well.
And yet, this team has won 14 in a row against the Bruins and 15 of their last 16 against the East. They can hardly do any better than that.
