Sure, the Washington Capitals boast a conference-best 11-1-1 home record, but who they have beaten has been equally as impressive.
The three teams with the most points in the East - Boston, New York and Montreal - have each made a visit to Verizon Center this season and left with zero points.
Thanks to 33 saves from Brent Johnson and Alexandre Giroux’s first NHL goal in nearly 21 months, the Bruins are the most recent Eastern Conference heavyweight to lose on the Caps’ home ice after Washington’s 3-1 victory Wednesday.
The Bruins had won 14 of 16 games since Nov. 1 and have a conference-best 42 points.
“We’ve talked about how we want to make this a tough building to play in, and we’ve been doing that,” defenseman Tom Poti said. “We’ve been playing great at home, and it just goes to show we want people to fear coming in this building.”
Johnson was steady and often spectacular in his third straight win. He made one of the best saves of the season in the second period. Boston rookie Blake Wheeler broke in alone on the goalie, and Johnson missed when he tried to pokecheck at the forward’s backhanded deke.
The Caps netminder recovered and reached back to his left with his stick to thwart the shot, much to the disbelief of Wheeler.
“Pretty outstanding,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said of Johnson. “This league is too good - you need that kind of goaltending to win. When we needed him, he was there.”
He also survived a scare midway through the first period when Chuck Kobasew tried to bang home a rebound and ended up running into Johnson, who reached for his left hip and stayed down for a couple of minutes.
“It is just a nagging hip [problem] - it is sore,” Johnson said. “I think the only that is going to heal it is a little time off, and obviously we’re not going to have that. I’ve just got to make sure I don’t overdo it and have to be out for a long time.”
The Caps welcomed back a pair of key players to the lineup but also added another player to the injury report. Right wing Alexander Semin returned after a 12-game absence because of an upper body injury, and Poti returned after missing six games with a pulled groin muscle.
Tomas Fleischmann was out of the lineup for the first time with a lower body injury. Fleischmann is third on the team with 10 goals - the same number he had in 75 games last season.
To replace Fleischmann, the Caps recalled power forward Oskar Osala for his NHL debut. Osala, a fourth-round pick in 2006, has 16 goals in 26 games for the Hershey Bears, which leads all American Hockey League rookies.
Nicklas Backstrom missed his first chance to give the Caps a 1-0 lead, but he made up for about one-and-a-half seconds later. With the team on the power play, Viktor Kozlov tried to center a pass to Backstrom from behind the goal line but the 21-year-old center whiffed on the one-timer.
The puck drifted to Alex Ovechkin - who also added an empty-net tally in the final minute - at the top of the offensive zone, and Backstrom redirected his blast for his ninth goal of the season and fourth in five games.
One of the team’s recent call-ups made it a 2-0 advantage. Giroux put home a rebound for his third career goal 4:52 into the second period. Michael Nylander sent a cross-ice pass to Poti, who flipped a backhanded dish to Viktor Kozlov between the hash marks, and Giroux was stationed near the left post to collect the goal.
Giroux, a 27-year-old wing from Quebec, has 216 goals in seven-plus seasons in the AHL, but was playing in only his 12th NHL contest. He had a chance for his fourth NHL tally on a penalty shot early in the third period, but Boston goalie Manny Fernandez stopped him.
“Poti and all these guys just made great plays and I was there - right place, right moment,” Giroux said. “We talked about how the Bruins are the hottest team in the NHL. It is such a plus to score against these guys and beat them for the game-winner. It was pretty amazing.”
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