Krug: Capitals 'A Great Measuring Stick' For Bruins
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Bruins are still disappointed with their effort, but have put an abysmal 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the Winter Classic in the past.
That's a good thing, because they host the 28-7-3 Washington Capitals on Tuesday night, the best team in the Eastern Conference. Bruins defenseman Torey Krug joined Zolak & Bertrand at the TD Garden on Tuesday, and despite their stinker on New Year's day, said the B's are still a very confident bunch heading into Tuesday night's game.
"We know they have a great team and the way they've been playing this year is second to no one in the league. It's a great measuring stick and we're going into it with the mindset we're going to win a hockey game," said Krug. "We have to approach it that way and make sure we're ready to go to work physically, because they're a bigger team that likes to grind it out. They play a long game and are very deep up front and in their back-end, and their goaltender has had great success against us as well."
In 10 games against the Bruins, netminder Braden Holtby is 8-2-0 with a .954 save percentage and 1.52 goals against average. Boston will have their work cut out for them without Brad Marchand (serving his 3-game ban) and David Krejci (sidelined with an upper body injury), but Krug said there's no time to sit and sulk about guys who won't be on the ice Tuesday. The Bruins are hanging on to the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, with plenty of teams vying for the spot as we approach the midway point of the season.
"Aside from Washington everyone else is jumbled in the middle of our conference. It makes every game really important and good for the fans to watch," said Krug. "Maybe this is where we use last year to our advantage. We played in some important games down the stretch. Unfortunately we came up short last year but now we know what we have to do to come out on top.
"Inside the locker room it's about moving on to the next game and seeing what we have to do to leapfrog teams in the standings," hes said. "Generally speaking, a lot of people are surprised where we're at right now but we're not surprised at all and are just going to keep moving."
Krug also shared some leftover thoughts from the Winter Classic and discussed what Marchand brings to the team both on and off the ice:
Tune in to Tuesday night's Bruins-Capitals game on 98.5 The Sports Hub -- the flagship station of the Boston Bruins. Pregame coverage begins at 6:30pm!
