This game had a bit of everything.
Physical play, a very questionable hit, the newest member of the Bruins fighting, and a 5-1 Boston win over the Washington Capitals on Friday night.
Brad Marchand (twice), Trent Frederic, Patrice Bergeron, Nick Ritchie had the goals for the Bruins, while Jakub Vrana accounted for the Caps’ lone tally.
Momentum swung in the favor of Boston in the second period, and it never looked back.
With the win, the Bruins moved to 13-5-3, while the Capitals fell to 13-6-4.
Here’s how it all went down:
B’S UP AFTER ONE
Bruins fans were left worrying when Charlie McAvoy went down the tunnel after getting the worst of a big hit on Garnet Hathaway. The blueliner returned to the bench quickly with a cut on his face.
That didn’t slow the B’s down any as Bergeron perfectly backhanded the puck to Marchand in the slot who beat Vitek Vanacek for the 1-0 lead.
But things took a turn when Tom Wilson laid a high, dirty hit on Brandon Carlo. The B’s defender remained down for several minutes before being helped off the ice.
Boston was up 1-0 after 20 with the Caps holding the 12-8 edge in shots.
MOMENTUM IN FAVOR OF BOSTON
Things were bound to get chippy after Marchand called Wilson’s hit on Carlo a (expletive) one, but Boston got the ultimate revenge by scoring three unanswered goals.
But first, Jarred Tinordi dropped the gloves with Wilson which seemed to jumpstart the Bruins.
Matt Grzelcyk picked off the puck in the neutral zone that jumpstarted McAvoy finding Frederic who redirected the puck into the net to make it 2-0.
Then the top line did what it does with some beautiful puck movement that led to Bergeron finishing off the tic-tac-toe with a goal for the 3-0 edge.
But they weren’t done just yet when Marchand tapped in a goal off a nice feed from Grzelcyk to extend the lead to 4-0.
That was enough for the Capitals to replace Vanecek with Ilya Samsonov.
The Caps still held a 20-18 shot advantage, but it was Boston who had the four-goal lead after two periods.
B’S SEAL IT
Ritchie began the third by scoring Boston’s fifth goal of the night with help from David Krejci.
Frederic continued the momentum by dropping the gloves with Wilson, and the two continued to chirp at each other while in the penalty box.
Vrana ended the shutout with 6:24 to go when he finally beat Jaroslav Halak to make it a 5-1 game.
But that’s all Washington would get as Boston earned the W.
UP NEXT
The Bruins welcome the New Jersey Devils to TD Garden on Sunday. Puck drop is set for 5 p.m. ET.
