The Bruins found themselves in a similar situation as Saturday, but it was a different outcome this time around.
Boston found itself trailing by two goals heading into the final frame against the Washington Capitals on Monday night, but scored four third-period goals and claimed a 5-3 victory at Capital One Arena.
David Pastrnak (twice), Craig Smith, Brandon Carlo and Brad Marchand scored for the Bruins. Former Bruin and current Washington defenseman Zdeno Chara, Daniel Sprong and John Carlson found twine for the Capitals.
Jaroslav Halak made 23 stops, while Vitek Vanecek turned away 28.
With the win, the Bruins moved to 6-1-2 while the Capitals fell to 6-1-3.
Here’s how it all went down:
CAPS GET TWO
The Bruins had a brief scare when Marchand lost an edge and went into the end boards. He clearly was in pain as he skated back to the bench hunched over.
The good news, though, is that he didn’t miss a shift.
Kevan Miller was whistled for interference with 11:42 to go in the opening period, but killed it off against the Capitals’ dangerous power-play unit.
The Caps appeared to strike first on even strength when John Carlsson ripped the puck through traffic from the point, off the stick of Carl Hagelin and past Halak. Boston challenged the call for offsides, and it turned out to be successful to keep the score 0-0.
The coach’s challenge didn’t faze the Capitals, though.
It was Chara who got Washington on the board without a challenge against his old team with a classic Chara slap shot from the blue line.
And 11 seconds later, Sprong made it 2-0.
The Bruins were outshot by the Capitals, 15-8, after 20 minutes.
B’S ON THE BOARD
The Bruins had a crucial chance to get one back when they had 58 seconds of 5-on-3 play in the first five minutes of the middle period, but they just couldn’t seem to get anything going.
Another power play for the Caps helped extend their lead when Carlson walked right into the slot and made it 3-0.
Boston finally got one back on a well-executed play off a faceoff win. Pastrnak was the beneficiary, as the winger ripped a one-timer past Vanecek to cut the Bruins’ deficit to 3-1.
That’d be all the B’s could muster in the second period, though, as the Capitals held a 20-17 advantage in shots.
DÉJÀ VU
Pastrnak found twine once again to bring his team within one after a pass from Jakub Zboril.
Trent Frederic finally was able to drop the gloves, and went toe-to-toe with Tom Wilson before officials broke it up after Fredric went down to the ice.
Smith, who’s been shooting the puck every chance he gets, finally lit the lamp to tie things at 3-3.
Then Carlo accounted for the fourth unanswered goal, and third of the period, to give the Bruins their first lead of the night.
Marchand added an empty-netter for good measure.
The loss was Washington’s first in regulation.
UP NEXT
The Bruins continue their road trip when they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers. Puck drop from Wells Fargo Center is set for 8 p.m. ET.
