After Nicklas Backstrom tied it things looked like it would go into overtime between the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins, a game that was exclusively on Hulu and ESPN plus. But with 45 seconds left in a deadlocked 3-3 game, it was Charlie McAvoy on the power play who broke the tie.
The Caps got off to an early lead at 4:07 from Evgeny Kuznetsov for his 13th goal of the season. It came on a snipe outside the left face off circle around the net and was assisted by Alex Ovechkin and Trevor van Riemsdyk.
At 4:57 the Bruins responded on a breakaway goal from David Pastrnak. He would add his second of the game at 8:37 of the second on the power play to give them the lead. The Bruins led in shots 10-5 and 10-6 respectively in the first two periods. The Caps though would tie it late to make things interesting heading into the final period.
That goal would come from Lars Eller set up by Connor McMichael for his seventh of the season. It came on a snipe from the left circle charging down the ice. In the third the Bruins would take the lead on a goal from Jake DeBrusk at 9:41. The Caps would not quit.
Nicklas Backstrom had been through a lot and at 10:17 he finally scored his first goal of the season off a nice bang bang or should I say bing bong play from Tom Wilson setting it up along the boards and setting up Nicky for the shot. McAvoy would win it with 45 seconds left giving the Caps a heartbreaking defeat.
Alas… close but no cigar. We’re halfway through the season and this loss drops the Caps back to the first wild card spot with a 22-10-9 record and 53 points, five ahead of Boston. They are tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins who moved to third with their win. The Caps were outshot badly. In the third it was 6-13 and overall it was 17 to the Bruins 33.
Nicklas Backstrom told the media:
"“It was a good battle. I think obviously two desperate teams that wants points and I thought we battled to the end. Unfortunately they scored 45 seconds left. Yeah, it would have been nice to at least get a point out of it.”"
The Caps will host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night who fell to the Penguins. The Caps were already without John Carlson due to COVID protocol and Dmitry Orlov with a two game suspension. Now they might be without Nick Jensen as he left the game and didn’t play in the third period. He had an upper body injury.