Capitals, Bruins square off in big showdown

The Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins, two of the NHL's top teams, will square off Wednesday night in the nation's capital as both try to rebound from less-than-stellar games.

Both teams are coming off 5-2 losses. Columbus defeated the Capitals in Washington on Monday night to end a six-game winning streak. The Capitals could not get their offense going, thanks to aggressive forechecking from the Blue Jackets, and never took the lead.

Boston fell to Ottawa by that same score. The Bruins had won eight in a row but now are 0-2-1 in their past three games.

Heading into Tuesday's games, Washington was tops in the NHL with 49 points while Boston sat right behind at 46. Also, the Capitals were first in the league with 117 goals scored while the Bruins ranked third with 107.

The Bruins also lead the league in goal differential. They are plus-29 after the loss to Ottawa.

For Washington, the good news coming out of the loss to Columbus was the return of Nicklas Backstrom, who missed eight games with an upper-body injury.

Backstrom got a goal and an assist but it wasn't enough on a night when the Capitals struggled. They got off to a slow start that let Columbus take control early.

"There's a lot of parity in the league," Washington coach Todd Reirden said on the team's site. "You've got to be on top of your game or you're susceptible to coming up on the wrong end of things. We've been really consistent obviously through 30-plus games of doing that, and (in this game) we had a bad start, and it cost us."

The Capitals were returning home after a four-game road trip, which included a three-game swing through California. They won all of the games before coming out flat on Monday as the Blue Jackets outshot them 20-6 in the first period, but goalie Braden Holtby kept it at 1-0 after one as it could have been much worse.

Boston also will be trying to turn things around in the meeting against Washington. The good news for the Bruins was that Patrice Bergeron returned to the lineup Monday after a lower-body injury sidelined him for nine of the last 11 games.

Bergeron scored in the loss Monday, and the Bruins are hoping he can stay healthy. Also in the loss, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak both added two assists.

Boston had beaten Ottawa in their last 10 meetings before the loss on Monday night.

Coach Bruce Cassidy said his team needs to keep playing hard for all 60 minutes, and he wants to see better energy.

"We're going through a tough stretch in terms of getting our energy level where it needs to be," Cassidy said on NHL.com after the Ottawa loss. "If you're not competing hard on the puck, around the puck, on the puck, in this league, you're not going to beat anybody."

Cassidy told the media on Tuesday that the Bruins need to return to enjoying the game while doing what's needed to win. He said they've got to do a better job of balancing the two areas.

--Field Level Media