Saturday Roundup/Gameday: Caps @ Bruins

[AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview]

Since we last saw the Bruins on Monday night in "the city of Satan" (and not Miro), they've gone out and been shutout by the Panthers and dismantled by the Leafs. The formerly impenetrable Tim Thomas has been yanked three times in his last two starts (impressive) and has seen his League rankings in goals against average and save percentage drop from tenth and second, respectively, to 19th and seventh (and it's killing my fantasy team).

So the Bruins are in danger of free fallin' right out of the top eight in the Conference, the Caps are hot, Alex is good, both teams need this game, don't look past this one to the Pens, yada yada yada. Rather than looking forward, let's take one last look back at Monday's massacre in the time-honored lazy blogger tradition of the Top Ten list and count down the Top Ten Goals The Caps Scored On Monday Night:

10. Brooks Laich's second goal, a power play deflection.
    

9. Matt Cooke's goal that opened the scoring and the floodgates. Welcome to DC, Cookie.
   

8. Alex Ovechkin's second goal, on a nice feed from Nicklas Backstrom.
   

7. Matt Bradley's second goal - "The fans wanted [number ten], and I am a fan favorite, so I had to give them what they wanted."

6. Ovechkin's back-door power play goal, on a beautiful feed from Alex Semin.
   

5. Bradley's first goal, the one that sent Thomas to the bench the first time.
   

4. Donald Brashear's goal - every time an enforcer score, an angel gets its wings.
   

3. Speaking of wings, Laich's first goal meant free wings for all.
   

2. Backstrom's breakaway goal on a ridiculous pass from Ovechkin.
   

And the number one goal the Caps scored on Monday night...

1. Ovechkin's breakaway goal, his 50th of the year.
   

Now we can close the book on Monday night and look at what really seems like a "trap" game up in Boston. The Caps have to guard against both over-confidence (I've got the under on them scoring ten times on Saturday) and looking forward to the uber-hyped Sunday match-up with Pittsburgh. Without question, mental preparation for a reeling Bruins team will be of the utmost importance in determining whether the Caps come back from Beantown with two points or, well, "other." Coach 'em up, Gabby - this is a biggie.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

Happy 32nd Birthday, Chris Clark, and Happy B-Day to other former Caps Larry Murphy, Mike Lalor, Rob Zettler and Craig Johnson.... Golfer Ernie Els' son has autism, which is obviously sad, but the tiny silver lining is that it lends another very prominent voice to the long list of advocates for increased research into the disease, its causes and its cure.... Finally, one year ago today I yapped about how wonderful Google Reader is (and still is) and we looked at some awesome video of The Donald, and two years ago today we previewed that night's Caps/Pens game.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Patrik Elias (Game-winning OT goal, A, +2, 9 SOG, 11-for-19 faceoffs)
  
• Ross: Patrik Elias, Brent Burns, Ilya Kovalchuk, Joe Thornton, Brian Rolston (2 points each)
  
• Norris: Brent Burns (G, A, 4 SOG)
  
• Vezina: Mathieu Garon (W, 30 saves on 31 shots against)
  
• Richard: 18 players tied with 1G each
  
• Calder: Jonathan Toews (G, 3 SOG, 10-for-14 faceoffs)
  
• Aiken: Patrick Lalime (L, 3 goals allowed on 23 shots against)