The Washington Capitals bounced back from their loss to the Detroit Red Wings with a 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins, a team the Caps lost to on the road just before the holiday break. Now the holidays ends with a bang in this city with the win, Alex Ovechkin's return to home ice and on the football side of things, Jayden Daniels getting the Commanders to the playoffs.
Justin Brazeau struck first for the B's for his ninth of the season at 1:21 into the game. The Caps tied it with Aliaksei Protas' 15th goal of the season at 12:05. Pierre-Luc Dubois had his 23rd assist while Tom Wilson tacked on his 12th on the season.
Late in the first period at 16:56 Mark Kastelic high sticked Martin Fehervary and the Caps would respond on the power play as Jakob Chychrun struck for his 11th on the season. Dylan Strome had the primary for his team leading 29th assist on the season while John Carlson tacked on his 21st.
2-1 would be the score after one with Washington leading in shots 11-10. The second period saw Washington outshoot Boston 8-6 while the Caps got outshot 11-8 in the third period. Overall shots on goal were 27 apiece.
The Caps though would get the insurance goal with Protas' second goal of the afternoon in the form of an empty netter in the McNugget Minute at 19:51 for his 16th on the year. Wilson picked up his second apple and his 13th on the year while Nic Dowd had the secondary for his fourth assist on the year.
Logan Thompson had another brilliant ouing as he stopped 26 out of 27 shots for a .963 save percentage. He would earn second star of the game honors while Jakob Chychrun was awarded with star number one. Thompson's record goes up to 15-2-2.
Next up for the Caps is a home game on Thursday against the Minnesota Wild at 7 p.m. on Monumental Sports Network. That is sure to be a good one based on how good both teams are in each conference. Have a Happy New Year Caps fans!