But hockey games are 60 minutes long, and the Bruins only showed up for that final 20-minute stretch as the Capitals avenged a pair of early-season losses with a 5-3 victory.
"It took us too long to figure it out," said Julien. "We still had a chance to at least to earn a point, maybe two. We battled hard in the third, but you can't win too many games in this league by playing 20 minutes out of 60."
The Bruins sleepwalked through most of the first two periods. They managed to stay even through one period despite being outshot 8-3 as Tim Thomas continued his stellar start to the season. But eventually even Thomas couldn't do it all by himself as Boston's repeated defensive breakdowns and turnovers led to three second-period goals by Washington.
"There were too many turnovers for us," said Bruins forward Shawn Thornton. "We weren't giving ourselves a chance to establish a forecheck or create some pressure down low by giving up the puck at the blue line, but give [the Capitals] credit too. They were pretty good in the neutral zone too and they forced us to turn some pucks over."
The Bruins were charged with eight giveaways in the game, while Washington was credited with 14 takeaways. That's a lot of turnovers, and the Capitals capitalized on the breakdowns with repeated odd-man rushes and clean looks at Thomas, who was mercifully pulled after the second.
The goalie change helped awaken the Bruins in the third, as Boston finally started playing a more structured and energetic game in front of Tuukka Rask in the third.
"I think all of the sudden we decided to play a north-south game," said Julien. "We started to put pucks behind their D and that's what our game plan was all along, but somehow our guys were turning too many pucks over at the blue line and in the neutral zone tonight for us to get any type of offense going."
The offense did get going in the third, as Michael Ryder backhanded in a rebound on the power play at 3:07, then Nathan Horton blasted in a one-timer from the left circle on another power play at 4:02.
Thornton became an unlikely hero when he tied the game at 9:51, scoring on a backhander of his own as he took the shot when sprung on a 2-on-1 with Tyler Seguin by a Brad Marchand outlet pass after a pair of Washington defenders collided at the Boston blue line. It was Thornton's second goal of the year, as the tough guy has already exceeded his total from all of last season.
The entire fourth line has greatly exceeded expectations this season, and the unit of Greg Campbell, Marchand and Thornton was again Boston's most consistent and effective line all night.
"Same old, same old, they're pretty simple as a line," said Julien. "They like to put pucks in deep and they like to get in on the forecheck. They get rewarded for that kind of stuff and they played well for us again tonight."
But their effort wasn't enough for the Bruins on this night. Washington regrouped after switching goalies as well, throwing rookie Braden Holtby into the game for his first NHL action. He responded by stopping the four shots he faced for the win, while Rask was the hard-luck loser in relief of Thomas.
Despite allowing more than two goals for the first time this season, Thomas remains perfect at 7-0-0 on the year as the Bruins tied the game with Rask in net, while Rask falls to 0-3-0 despite stopping 12 of the 13 shots he faced. The one that eluded him came off a face-off loss to Rask's left, as Milan Lucic, taking the draw after David Krejci was tossed, couldn't tie up Boyd Gordon and Natick, Mass. native John Carlson blasted home a one-timer from the point with 6:35 left.
"We battled back and tied the game as we planned, but that's hockey," said Rask. "I knew I had to shut them down and they got one by me and that's enough."
The Bruins actually held a slight 42-35 edge in face-offs for the game, but they lost several crucial ones when it mattered most. Patrice Bergeron lost another defensive zone draw cleanly to Tomas Fleischmann in the second, as Fleischmann won it back cleanly to Tyler Sloan for the game's first goal.
It was an uncharacteristic rough night for the usually reliable Bergeron, as he was also beaten to a loose puck by Alexander Semin to set up a short-handed goal that pushed Washington's lead to 3-0.
Despite the poor start, the Bruins can take some solace from their rally in the third, and will try to carry that play into Saturday's matchup against St. Louis back at the Garden.
"I really like the character on this team," said Thornton. "I like that we didn't fold. We didn't back down. We took it upon ourselves to try to get ourselves back in the game."
