6 storylines to watch entering Bruins-Capitals

Author Ty Anderson

May 15th, 2021 6:33 PM

For the first time in nine years, it will be the Bruins and Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The meeting between the rivals comes after a season series that saw Boston go 4-2-2 against D.C., but with two of those losses coming with an undeniable AHL defense compared to a fully-loaded Capitals squad, and with the Bruins outscoring Washington by a 24-15 mark when taking those two games out of the equation.

But even if we discount the Bruins’ losses to the Capitals, the B’s know that they’re going to have their hands full.

“Solid team, great top-six, big bodies,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said of the Capitals. “Their coach has been there many times, so they’re going to be ready to go. Obviously playing [Zdeno Chara], I’m sure that will become a storyline.”

“They’re obviously a very dominant team, big, physical,” echoed Brad Marchand. “They gain a lot of emotion and energy from that. They have a lot of guys that play that way. They’re built to be heavy and to be a playoff team, and they’re built for the playoffs. And it’s going to be a tough series. We definitely have our work cut out for us, but we’re excited for the challenge.”

Here are six storylines to watch as the B’s and Capitals get underway at Capital One Arena…

• How long of a leash will Tuukka Rask have in net?

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  The Bruins made it clear that Tuukka Rask is their No. 1 goaltender.
  
  But it'll be interesting to see just how long a leash Rask, who has repeatedly admitted that he's not 100 percent healthy, gets this postseason. The Bruins considered Jarsolav Halak a legit threat to Rask's job when the 2019 postseason started, but Rask ultimately put that entire debate to bed with a run that carried the Bruins to the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. Bruins head coach Cassidy had 'comfort' back then, and the truth is that '19 Halak has nothing on 2021 Jeremy Swayman, the 22-year-old who will begin the postseason as Rask's backup after posting a league-best .945 save percentage in 10 contests this season.
  
  The B's have repeatedly praised Swayman's poise, confidence, and have made it clear that they believe in him.
  
  So, if things go south with Rask in the starter's crease, when would Swayman get the call? At 1-1 with Rask looking stiff and posting under a .910 through the opening 120 minutes of action? Maybe down 2-1 and in need of a potential series-changing spark? One thing the Bruins should definitely avoid if they can: Putting Swayman in net for a start with the Black and Gold's backs completely against the wall. If there's a change to be made, do it when you still have some sort of room for failure, and not when the Bruins are down 3-1 or 3-2 and need a must-win from the true rookie.
  
  All of this, of course, assumes that Rask struggles. And maybe that's a complete fantasy (or a borderline pornographic dream if you're one of these weirdos who roots for Rask to fail) given how he handled this angle in 2019.

• Can Bergeron Line continue to dominate Capitals?

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  With the Toronto Maple Leafs out of Boston's division this season, it was the Washington Capitals who played the role of hapless victim to the offensive-zone mastery of the Black and Gold's first line with Patrice Bergeron between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak. And my goodness, was this a clinic. 
  
  On the ice for almost 64 and a half minutes of five-on-five action against the Capitals in 2021, the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line posted a corsi-for percentage of 68.42 percent, held a 45-19 shot advantage, 33-17 scoring chance advantage (15-5 advantage in high-danger scoring chances), and outscored Washington nine to three. 
  
  Break it down to a per-60 rate, and the Bruins' success against the Capitals in 2021 was the best against their division's best.
  
  Bergeron line vs. Capitals: 41.9 shots, 8.38 goals, and 30.7 scoring chances for per 60 minutes of five-on-five.
  
  Bergeron line vs. Islanders: 41.1 shots, 3.1 goals, and 33.4 scoring chances for per 60 minutes of five-on-five.
  
  Bergeron line vs. Penguins: 50.8 shots, 1.1 goals, and 33.1 scoring chances for per 60 minutes of five-on-five.
  
  Their goals were some of the prettiest you saw from 'em this season, too. If they can keep that up, this will be a gigantic advantage for the Bruins. 

• Handling Tom Wilson and the Bruins’ best bullet in the chamber

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  The Bruins believe they're equipped to handle Tom Wilson, one of the game's premier power-forward and the most disruptive and destructive player in the league (and I mean that in every sense of the word), better than most. The Bruins are more than familiar with Wilson's body of work, too. He jumped David Pastrnak at the end of a blowout back in 2019, and a hot-headed Wilson went end-to-end to senselessly board Brandon Carlo into a hospital stay in a Mar. 5 meeting at TD Garden.
  
  The Bruins' Game 1 lineup will have its share of beef and snarl, too, with Nick Ritchie and Chris Wagner on the bottom two lines, while Kevan Miller will be on the right side of the Bruins' third pairing.
  
  But if that's not enough to slow Wilson down, the Bruins do have the Trent Frederic bullet in their chamber.
  
  And boy, is it a potentially damaging one.
  
  If Tuesday's otherwise meaningless season finale told us anything, it's that Wilson is obsessed with Frederic. In fact, Frederic goaded Wilson into a 10-minute misconduct in the third period of that tied contest. This isn't the first time that Frederic's been able to drag Wilson to the penalty box in 2021. If Wilson's going to try and collect Boston heads, as is almost natural for him given the downright reckless way he plays (Wilson's mastered the art of walking the line between hard-nosed and illegal), deploying Frederic to try and force him into a penalty-box breather may be the best play to minimize Wilson's damage.
• A Battle of Elite Special Teams

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  Nobody took more minor penalties than the Bruins (199) in 2021. That failed to completely derail the Bruins, however, as they killed off 86 percent of their trips to the box in 2021, which ranked as the second-best mark in all of hockey, trailing only the Vegas Golden Knights and by just 0.2 percentage points. 
  
  But such a pace would undoubtedly put the B's through their biggest test of the year, as the Capitals finished the season with the third-best power play in the league, at 24.8 percent.
  
  The Capitals' man advantage was actually at its best against the Bruins, too, with goals in nine of their 30 opportunities against the B's in 2021.
  
  This could honestly be the one thing that does the Bruins in this round above all else. 
  
  If you're looking for optimism within this special teams battle, at least from the Bruins' point of view, it's that nobody allowed more shorthanded goals than the Capitals (eight) in 2021, and that nobody scored more shorthanded goals than the Bruins (nine).

• The Zdeno Chara Factor

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  Naturally, Zdeno Chara's split from the Bruins after a 14-year marriage as the team's captain, will come with the Bruins either eliminating or being eliminated by the 44-year-old in his first post-Boston stop. Because of course.
  
  Marchand said what we were all thinking when Chara first signed with Washington, saying "you probably could've guessed this was going to happen." 
  
  "It’s all about the team," Chara said. "It’s nothing personal. It’s just the way it worked out and that’s the way it is." 
  
  Yeah, about that. 
  
  Chara's friendships with the Bruins are still there, but you saw an increased bit of nastiness from the ex-Bruins captain as the season went on. He wasn't afraid to mix it up with Bergeron and Marchand in front of the Washington net, and was jawing with the Bruins' Frederic plenty throughout Tuesday's contest. The Bruins have also noted that Chara knows all of the Bruins' code words (something that's since been denied by Bruins president Cam Neely), and that he knows their set plays and tendencies. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out from Washington's point, but also how the Bruins attack Chara. 
  
  Noticing that the Bruins had success when attacking the Capital defense with foot speed, the Bruins are beginning this series with a fourth line that'l feature the speedy Jake DeBrusk with Curtis Lazar and Chris Wagner. Looking back at Chara's last shift of Tuesday's game, that could be a boost to the Bruins, as they outright swarmed the 6-foot-9 defender, and extended offensive-zone time and opportunities by going at him. 
  
  Chara had 12 hits, 13 blocked shots, and averaged 18:26 of action in seven games against the Bruins this season.

• Washington’s health issues are definitely there

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  The Capitals are entering this postseason in pretty rough shape, all things considered. Up front, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin battled through late-season injuries, along with TJ Oshie, while Wilson dodged what could've been a serious knee injury in a late-season collision with the Flyers' Nic Aube-Kubel. On the backend, John Carlson also dealt with some late-season health woes.
  
  The Caps will have all five in action to begin the series, which is an obvious boost, but at what percentage?
  
  Evgeny Kuznetsov (62 points in 78 career playoff games) and second-string goaltender Ilya Samsonov, meanwhile, are both out of action and will remain on the COVID-19 list to begin the 2021 postseason. In fact, Peter Laviolette has declined to talk about both players, who were suspended by the Capitals before landing on the COVID list. 
  
  The Bruins, meanwhile, are probably the healthiest they've been all season, with winger Ondrej Kase and defenseman Jakub Zboril the only players unavailable to Bruce Cassidy's squad to begin the 2021 postseason.

Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.

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Author Ty Anderson

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• Ty Anderson

Tags:

boston bruins,Tom Wilson,Tuukka Rask,washington capitals,zdeno chara