The Washington Capitals had a tie game through the first two periods but faltered in the third period to the Boston Bruins, losing by a final of 4-1 inside TD Garden before the Christmas break.
Justin Brazeau struck on the power play at 19:12 to give the Bruins the 1-0 lead. In the second Jakub Vrana tied it with a power play goal of his own for his seventh of the season. Rasmus Sandin picked up his 10th assist on the play while Pierre-Luc Dubois notched his 21st helper at 4:50. For Sandin, it was his 100th career point.
Elias Lindholm would give the Bruins the lead for good at 13:41. Charlie Coyle then struck at 15:59. Brad Marchand put it away with an empty netter at 18:38. There were scraps. There were fights. These teams meet again on New Years Eve.
For now the Caps get a short break before they board to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs at 7 p.m. on Saturday on Monumental Sports Network 2 and NHL Network. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is expected to make his long awaited return. Or at least predicted to by lots of people including ourselves.
With the loss the Caps falter to 23-9-2 and 48 points, good for second place in the Metropolitan Division behind the New Jersey Devils. Thanks to the win over Carolina on Friday night, the Caps sit five points above the Hurricanes.
For Vrana it was his third power play goal in as many games. But the unit failed when it mattered most, when it had a five minute opportunity in the third period and failed to not only cash in but also failed to record a shot in those five minutes. Overall not a good night for the Capitals.
"They're a good shot blocking team," Tom Wilson told reporters in Boston after the game. "We need to find a way to get pucks to the net.... They're playing hard right now. I think the first two periods were a really good battle, most of the third. Then they got a couple of odd man rushes and make it count."