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Caps visit Bruins hoping to get Trotz first win

Oct 11, 2014 - 1:57 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - After losing their season and home opener, the Washington Capitals will try to pick up their first win under new head coach Barry Trotz when they visit the Boston Bruins for Saturday's battle at TD Garden.

The Caps began their 2014-15 schedule Thursday against Montreal and grabbed an early 1-0 lead before falling 2-1 in a shootout.

Andre Burakovsky scored for Washington in his NHL debut, tallying just 6:43 into the game. The score stayed 1-0 until Tomas Plekanec knotted the game midway through the third period. Brendan Gallagher later scored the winner in the fifth round of the shootout, beating Washington's Braden Holtby with a snap shot.

The Capitals dropped their opener under Trotz despite 23 saves from Holtby. It was a losing start to what the team hopes is a winning turnaround from its ninth-place finish in the conference last season, which kept the Caps out of the playoffs for the first time in seven years.

Trotz, who was let go by the Nashville Predators after coaching them for their first 15 seasons, replaced Adam Oates after he was also fired. Although his new team failed to pick up a win Thursday, Trotz liked what he saw from the Caps.

"We were really playing quite well. They weren't getting too many chances and the chances they were getting were mostly results of some zone time and on the faceoff," said Trotz.

The Caps played Thursday without defenseman Mike Green, who is dealing with an upper-body injury. Green is questionable for Saturday's contest.

Boston, meanwhile, has split its first two games of the season, beating Philadelphia in the home opener at TD Garden on Wednesday before falling the following night in Detroit.

The Bruins beat the Flyers by a 2-1 score and lost by the same count Thursday against the Red Wings. Boston grabbed a 1-0 lead over Detroit on Patrice Bergeron's goal at 12:01 of the first period, but were unable to solve Jimmy Howard again. Justin Abdelkader evened the score early in the second period and Gustav Nyquist provided the game-winner for Detroit later in the middle stanza.

Tuukka Rask made 22 saves for the Bruins, who fired eight of their 17 shots on goal in the third period.

"We didn't have many shots in this game and you know a 1-0 lead is never going to hold up in this league," said Rask.

Boston is beginning a two-game homestand tonight, as the B's will also welcome Colorado on Monday afternoon.

The Bruins claimed two of three meetings against Washington last season, but the Capitals have five victories over the last eight encounters in this series. Boston has won two of the past three matchups at the Garden.