Good starts are imperative for the Bruins if they want to compete against teams like the Washington Capitals. They got that on Tuesday, but they could not keep the foot on the accelerator for the full 60 minutes.
The B’s came flying out of the gate in Washington and took the first lead of the game early. But they lost it before the end of the first period and the body-sacrificing Caps could not let them get the equalizer. The result was a frustrating 3-1 loss in a New Year’s Eve matinee to start to a tough three-game road trip that will take them to New York and Toronto.
The B’s made a good push in the third but could not even the game.
The Bruins were both good and lucky for much of the first period but yet they came away with a 2-1 deficit after 20 minutes.
The fortunate part came just 1:21 into the game. From the red line, Parker Wotherspoon fired the puck into the corner and Caps’ goalie Logan Thompson started to come out to play it behind the net. But the puck hit a stanchion and then bounced off the pads of Thompson, who never got out of his crease. It caromed straight to the forechecking Justin Brazeau, who scored on the put-back for his ninth of the year.
The B’s had their skating and forechecking legs in the early going and were forcing turnovers in the Washington zone, but either Thompson came up with the save or the B’s just couldn’t get the puck on the net. The Caps did a good job of getting in front of pucks (28 blocks).
Eventually, the Caps got their own game going a bit and they tied it up at 12:05. In the Washington zone, Brandon Carlo’s D-to-D pass to Mason Lohrei was a bit off and Lohrei had to scramble to keep it in. Lohrei’s soft backhander didn’t get deep and the Caps took off on a 3-on-2. Still, the B’s appeared to have thwarted that rush, but Carlo and Mark Kastelic couldn’t come up with a loose puck below the goal line. Pierre-Luc DuBois did, and he fed Aliaksei Protas out front for the equalizer.
The B’s then took the first penalty of the game when Kastelic’s stick rode up and clipped Martin Fehervary. Just 15 seconds later, Jakob Chychrun beat Jeremy Swayman on a sizzling short-side wrister at 17:11.
Nikita Zadorov had missed most of the first period after it appeared he caught the skate blade of Tom Wilson on the back of the leg just 19 seconds into the game but he returned before the period was out.
The game remained 2-1 through 40 minutes, though the B’s had two power-play chances, thanks to to two sell jobs by Elias Lindholm and Brad Marchand.
But given the opportunities, the B’s showed little urgency on the advantages, especially on the second one when the Caps forced them to play more in their own instead of Washington’s.
The Caps held a 20-16 shot advantage through two periods. The B’s were playing OK to that point, but they needed more urgency around the net if they wanted to pull this out.
Though they still had trouble getting pucks to Thompson, they had some chances. The best one was when David Pastrnak fed Morgan Geekie for a redirection at the side of the net but Geekie whiffed on the puck.
The B’s pushed furiously with Swayman pulled for the extra skater but they just could not get another one by Thompson. Finally, with 16 seconds to go, Lindholm lost an offensive zone draw and Protas ended it with an empty netter.