The Boston Bruins seemingly played the Washington Capitals every other game in the past two weeks. The two met again yesterday afternoon in Washington. After the B’s beat the Flyers in a thrilling overtime game on Saturday, Boston lost to the Capitals 2-1 in a shootout on Sunday. The good news, Boston gained a point to move three ahead of the cut off for a playoff spot, the point also earns them a tie with the sixth place New York Rangers.

Boston, again played without their captain Zdeno Chara. Big Z missed a fifth straight game with an undisclosed upper body injury Sunday. Rumors that Chara might be shut down for the remainder of the season was dismissed by his agent, "He’s banged up, that’s about all I can say about it," said Matt Keator. "He’s definitely not finished for the season. He should be fine. I don’t think he is going to miss much time at all."

As for the game, Chuck Kobasew score again for the Bruins. After going 15 straight games without a goal, Kobasew finally scored his 20th of the season on Thursday in the Bruins’ 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay. After scoring three goals in his last three games, Kobasew has set a new career high in goals with 22.

The Bruins woes continued up in Ottawa last night, by falling to the Senators 4-1 at Scotiabank Place. Alex Auld made his third consecutive start making 21 saves on 24 shots. Ottawa’s Martin Gerber stopped 28 of 29 shots the B’s put on net. Highlighted by a great save on Phil Kessel’s point blank opportunity, Gerberwas a mystery that the Bruins scorers couldn’t figure out until late in the game.

The lone goal from the Bruins came from defenseman Dennis Wideman, his 11th of the year. Boston had no answers for Ottawa’s Danny Heatley, who recorded a hat trick.

The B’s have lost five of its last six games as the playoffs are fast approaching. The good news is that they remain as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, as the Flyers blew an early lead and lost to the Maple Leafs in overtime last night. With 12 games left, the Bruins need to figure out how to score and win hockey games. Or they might just be on the outside looking in.

Without Zdeno Chara and Aaron Ward, the Bruins lost to the New York Rangers yesterday 1-0 at Madison Square Garden. Playing without two of their top defensemen, the B’s did not allow a regulation or overtime goal. Boston managed to earn themselves a point in the shootout loss.

Alex Auld made his second consecutive start, making 29 saves in the game. Auld has played well replacing the struggling Tim Thomas. The Rangers’ goalie, Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves and was perfect in the shootout. New York’s only shootout goal was provided by Nigel Dawes.

Boston gets a point but loses its spot in the standings, slipping to seventh in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers with the shootout win earn that extra point and slip ahead of the Bruins. Going into the game New York and Boston were tied for sixth, but Boston held the tie breaker by having more wins and already winning the season series.

The Bruins will be back in action Tuesday night in Ottawa, to take on the reeling Senators. Ottawa is currently fifth is the Eastern Conference and only three points ahead of the B’s. The Sens are 3-5-2 in their last ten games.

Claude Julien and the coaching staff must have really laid into the B’s players after the 10-2 shellacking the Capitals put on them Monday night. The Bruins went from playing a wide open game against Washington to really tightening things up defensively in tonights 1-0 overtime loss against the Florida Panthers. The high shot total was no indication as to how the game was played. The majority of the shots were from the perimeter or on the powerplay. There were very few defensive zone breakdowns as opposed to Monday night’s loss.

When counted on, both goalies were up to the task. Alex Auld made 31 saves against his old mates, with his only blemish being Nathan Horton’s goal 22 seconds into overtime. Florida’s Craig Anderson made 40 saves to earn the victory.

The Bruins are back in action Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The puck drops at 7 pm at the TD Bank North Garden.