Boston Finds Their "Closer"

That's right kiddies, Boston has found its closer. No, not the Sox, the Bruins. Phil Kessel slammed the door shut on the Caps last night in the shoot out with a slick backhander over the shoulder of a down and out Olaf Kolzig. This was Kessel’s third chance in the shoot out and for the third time he has finished it off in style. This kid is a natural goal scorer, and obviously someone who handles pressure pretty dam well.
Kudos also go out to the big Z as he shut down Alexander Ovechkin all night long, holding the flashy muscovite to only two shots, neither being of great quality. Z was on, laying Ovechkin out in the first period, lining him up from the opposite side of the rink waiting for the drop pass and timing the hit perfectly. That hit set the tone and had Ovechkin on his toes for the rest of the night, allowing Chara to create space enough for some great poke checking during the second and third periods.
Tim Thomas played well (32 saves, and stuffing Ovechkin in the shoot out) the second Caps goal may have caught Thomas out of position, however the puck took a bad hop and barely made it under a diving Chara and just past the stick of a sprawling Thomas.

New comers Brandon Bochenski and Jeremy Reich both played well , Reich getting things started with a nice little tussle in the first, and Bochenski scored on a quick writster right off the face off, showing his teammates that all you have to do is shoot, and eventually the puck will go in. Bochenski was also given a chance to shine in the shoot out, where he ripped one past Kolzig but was robbed by the corner of the post and cross bar.

Funny thing about the shoot out, the replay of Kessel’s winner showed the reaction on the bench, and not surprisingly the coach who now says he had all the confidence in the world in Kessel being able to finish off, was not even watching. He had his hand on his head and was bent down as if he was praying (“Please God, let the kid score, I need to keep my J-O-B”).

Overall First period was not so good offensively (two shots) but the team stayed tough and battled back for a badly needed two points.

The penalty killing was on last night, and the power play was a dismal 1-5 with one of those being a 4 minute power play. At least the one the connected on was one that they needed, as it tied the game and forced the OT and shoot out.

Way to go Phil, nice move, nice goal, just plain nice.