Battle of the Best in Beantown: Caps' Matinee Meeting with Bruins

Today's a big day for Caps fans as the boys take on the Eastern Conference's number one team in the Boston Bruins. The Bruins are without big man Milan Lucic, who is suffering from "upper body injuries" after he beat the tar (and broke "The Code" by pummeling a guy when he's down) out of the Anaheim Ducks' Mike Brown.

Here's a little snippet of that throwdown:



But of course the Bruins have plenty of heavy-hitters and sharpshooters in Lucic's absence, with the likes of Marc Savard, Phil Kessel, rookie Blake Wheeler and the ginormous Zdeno Chara, their towering d-man. And let us not forget their uber-goalie Timmy Thomas, who's probably a shoe-in for this year's Vezina Trophy for the League's hottest hand in net.

The good news is that the Caps managed to stay out of the sin bin for the first two periods for the most part and the penalty on Semin was questionable. The ref was obviously not sporting his contact lenses on that one as the huge Chara swiped Sasha's stick. Nick Backstrom took the lead for the Caps first on a power play tally. The B's Matt Hunwick tied it up on an even strength goal about a minute later. Both Thomas and Jose Theodore had some brilliant saves throughout this contest!

The Bruin's fans booed the Great Eight heartily whenever his magic stick touched the puck but AO temporarily gave the Caps another one-goal lead with a nice goal in the second. Not to be outdone, the Bruins tied it shortly thereafter on a Phil Kessel goal.

The third period saw another Caps' lead with a Tomas Fleischmann goal. But just when Hockey Mom was ready to propose a toast to the boys for staying out of penalty trouble, they seemed to take back-to-back trips to the bin in the final period. Honestly, it's been said over and over and these penalties are killing them. You cannot repeatedly put your team in a short-handed situation, especially against playoff-ready clubs like the Bruins, Devils and the (insert expletive of your choice here) Flyers! Because when you do, Zdeno Chara smokes your goalie with his 100 m.p.h. shot to tie it up at 3 - 3.

And this nail-biter went into sudden death OT! Alex Semin won it lights out with a beauty of a shot that went five-hole on an unsuspecting Tim Thomas. Time for Hockey Mom to enjoy an adult beverage and toast to an exciting win against a tough foe and a fabulous 2 points...hope all you sports fans out there are doing the same!

Get ready to rock the red and welcome the guys home as the take on the Florida Panthers (who are currently getting annihilated by the mean New Jersey Devils) tomorrow at the Phone Booth....