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Adam Jones: Braden Holtby Continues To Own Bruins

BOSTON (CBS) - For the first time ever, the Boston Bruins were completely blanked by a goaltender in a season series.

After Wednesday night's 3-0 win, Capitals netminder Braden Holtby earned a third shutout of the season in his three tries against Boston, turning away all 88 shots faced.

With the loss, the Bruins stay at 95 points through 80 games played and nothing decided in terms of their playoff fate.

"It was an inspiring effort from the Bruins [Wednesday night] in Washington D.C.," said a sarcastic Adam Jones, who recapped the game on 98.5 The Sports Hub afterwards. "They came out flat as could be against Washington."

Boston had zero power play opportunities, which probably tells you how much the Bruins were outworked on the opposite end of the ice. But the big story of the night, and of the season series, was Caps goalie Braden Holtby.

"Holtby had a 29-save shutout back in October, a 32-save shutout last month and 27 more saves tonight against the Bruins. They are 0-for-3 [in wins] and 0-for-88 [in shots on net] against Braden Holtby so far this year. It's the same goaltender who shut them them down in the playoffs a few years ago," said Jones. "Holtby improves to 7-2 lifetime against the Bruins with a goals against average of [1.58 GAA] in his career against the Bruins, at least in the regular season."

"He has their number," added Rich Keefe.

Boston is currently tied with Ottawa in points, but would make the playoffs if the season ended today. However, they'll need to take care of business these final two games to ensure a postseason berth.

It's not a hot take by any means, but Adam Jones is not sure how the Bruins respond to the challenge.

"This team, which has been Jekyll and Hyde, schizophrenic, or however you want to describe them all season long, how do they answer the bell against Florida [Thursday night]? How do they bounce back? Do they bounce back? The trend coming into this game was they had won five in a row, but prior to that they had lost six in a row, and prior to that they had won five in a row. That just tells you how all over the map this team has been since March."

Boston returns to the ice Thursday night in Florida to face the Panthers, a team that will try to play the spoiler when the puck drops at 7:30pm.

Listen below:

Hear every game of the 2014-15 Boston Bruins season on 98.5 The Sports Hub — the flagship station of the Boston Bruins. Pregame coverage with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers begins 30 minutes prior to every game!

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