at keeping Zdeno Chara from winding up his slap shot, but the one time he did, Jeff Schultz took the shot off his visor. As the period unfolded, the Capitals had a disjointed second powerplay chance, but regrouped for a decent one in the second period. Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green were the keys to the Capitals pressure, and Brooks Laich nearly had a couple goals on a deflection and a rebound, but the Caps still finished 0/3.

The Capitals were much more disciplined in this game than in Game 1, but were still guilty of a selfish penalty. Early in the second period, Roman Hamrlik was clearing the crease in front of Braden Holtby and took a few shoves from Brad Marchand. After the whistle, he retaliated bybut Brouwer beat them both and poked the loose puck through the goalie’s pads. It took 99 minutes for the Capitals to solve Thomas, but they had their first goal and lead of the series.

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The physical tone was once again present in spades in this game. Backstrom is quite capable of taking a beating and making his own space in the offensive zone, and he drew a hooking penalty on Chris Kelly in the first period and was a nuisance for the Bruins all night. Both sides took liberties with the other, but the referees swallowed their whistles after the obvious Brad Marchand high-sticking penalty midway through the second. Backstrom had his face full of Bruins in a scrum to end the second period and