Bruins Notes: Boston’s Penalty Kill Comes Up Huge In Win Vs. Capitals

The Boston Bruins defeated the Washington Capitals 3-2 in a crazy shootout after killing a double minor high sticking penalty in overtime.

With goals from Jake DeBrusk, David Pastrnak and Kevin Shattenkirk, the Bruins earned two points and their sixth consecutive 100-plus-point season.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery discussed his mindset heading into the shootout with NESN analyst Andy Brickley.

“Someone that scored, they usually feel good and are a little more confident. So, you send them out,” Montgomery told Brickley, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “But goalie (coach) Bob (Essensa) said Shatty would be a good matchup for this goalie, and he called it.”

The Bruins held the Capitals to 20 shots, including four during the four-on-three man advantage in overtime when Hampus Lindholm was called for the double minor high sticking infraction.

“I thought we were tight,” Montgomery said. “I thought when they went high, we cut their ice in half by our high forward. I thought our sticks were really good. And of course, (Jeremy Swayman) made a couple of great saves.”

Swayman said he was impressed with the defense in front of him on the penalty kill during the overtime frame.

“I think it was just our three (players) working harder than their four,” Swayman told reporters about the penalty kill in overtime, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Our team did a great job hunting pucks, keeping pucks below their red line, and then our penalty kill came up with the win. It’s really exciting and a big win for us moving forward.”

The Bruins netminder stopped 18 Capitals’ shots for his 24th win of the season. Even with the lack of pucks getting through to Swayman, the high pace of the transition game from Washington kept the goalie on his toes.

“I want to be comfortable in those types of games,” Swayman said. “Comfortable in uncomfortable situations and understanding that anytime they can get a breakaway, two-on-one rush. Just has to be one-shot mentality. One shot at a time mentality. Just really excited about the result tonight and the way our guys played, especially defensively.”

Here are more notes from Saturday’s Bruins-Capitals game:

— Lindholm may have been sitting in the penalty box for four minutes of the five-minute overtime, but he was instrumental in the Bruins win by opening the scoring for Boston late in the first period and stopping an Alexander Alexeyev shot by skating behind Swayman in the crease to make the stick save.

“You don’t really think too much,” Lindholm explained his save to reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I think it’s just kind of in the back of your head. You just kind of try to prevent them from scoring. I didn’t think a whole lot, just trying to help out the best I can do.”

— John Beecher scored his seventh goal of the season on a breakaway in the second period.

“I was just trying to hold the dot line there in the (defensive) zone,” Beecher told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Just part of our process. They tried to slip it through, it hit my foot … I was able to get a step on him. I usually tend to go five-hole on them in the breakaway and was able to slip it through. So, happy about it.”

— The Bruins reached 100-plus points for the sixth straight season, the longest in franchise history and tied for third-longest in NHL history. Boston has reached 100 points 27 times in team history.

— The Bruins continue their road trip when they travel to Nashville to take on the Predators on Tuesday night. Puck drop from Bridgestone Arena is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET., and you can watch the game after an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.