AVOIDING A SLOW START IS THE KEY TO A BRUINS VICTORY OVER THE CAPS

ALEX OVECHKIN HAD A LEG UP ON GREGORY CAMPBELL AND THE BRUINS ON SATURDAY.

Less than a week ago, Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals marched into Boston Garden and had a relatively easy time handing the Bruins a 4-2 loss.  The Bruins helped the Capitals out by spotting them a 3-0 lead while managing to get only one shot off during a full two minutes of 5 on 3 hockey.

Eventually the Bruins woke up and made a game of it after goals by Bergeron and Thornton in the second.  Amazingly enough, the Bruins would end up winning 60% of the faceoffs in the game and would end up outshooting the Capitals 38-31.  Of course the only statistic which really matters in hockey is the number of goals scored, and that is one of the categories which the Bruins could not recover from after their lethargic start.

While anything is possible, I'd be willing to bet that the Bruins have a much better start than they did on Saturday.  With a good start, the Bruins can almost guarantee a victory as they have one of the best winning percentages when they score first in a game .829.  When leading a game heading into the third period, their winning percentage grows to .938.  This is good enough to have them tied with Colorado for 2nd in the league.  FYI the Kings are a perfect 18 for 18 when leading after 2.  

While playing catchup in any sport is hard, it's probably most difficult in hockey.

Don't expect to see any new faces in Bruins' jerseys during tonight's game.