Bruins Beat Capitals, Extend TD Garden Win Streak to 12 Games

BOSTON –– The Boston Bruins extended their win streak on home ice to 12 games on Saturday as they beat the Washington Capitals 3-1 in an afternoon matchup at TD Garden.

Going into the contest, the B’s had a four-point lead on the Capitals in the Eastern Conference playoff standings. They pushed that to six points with the victory, holding onto the second wild-card spot.

​“It’s an important time of year, and I think we are really rallying around that,” said Jeremy Swayman, who made 22 saves. “It’s excellent. You hear the music bumping coming down the hallway, and you know you are going to get embraced by your brothers. That’s an addictive feeling. I think that we are going to do whatever it takes to keep that going.”  

After a scoreless first period, Pavel Zacha got the Bruins on the board in the second while on the power play. David Pastrnak dished the puck to Charlie McAvoy, who dropped it to Zacha in close, where he batted in the rebound of his own shot. Zacha’s 16th goal of the season made it 1-0 at 4:07.

“This is the group that every practice, every day, you are happy to come to the rink and play with them and get better with them,” Zacha said. “I think we have a good foundation here; we just have to keep winning games.”

The Capitals found the 1-1 equalizer with a tap-in tally from Aliaksei Protas at 7:21.​

Viktor Arvidsson regained the B’s lead, though, to open the third period. Casey Mittelstadt sent a back-handed outlet pass to Arvidsson, who picked it up with speed on the breakaway. He snapped it past Washington netminder Logan Thompson for the 2-1 advantage at 4:28.

“Just tried to bury it,” Arvidsson said. “The power play came through, the PK came through. There was not a lot of flow in the game, except in the third period, so I think we did a pretty good job 5-on-5, too, to be able to win these games.”

The Bruins protected their lead for the remainder of the final frame.

“We knew what to do. I think the only difference was it was a tight game going into the third, and then obviously we wanted to push a little bit more. We had the good momentum,” head coach Marco Sturm said. “I think Washington today, especially in the third, there was not really a big, big push back either. I think that allowed us to be more aggressive.”

​The Boston win was ensured by Elias Lindholm’s empty-net goal at 19:36, bringing the game to its 3-1 standing. Pastrnak picked up his second assist of the afternoon on the play.

​“It’s big. Honestly, good bounce-back win. Important game, important weekend ahead of us,” Pastrnak said. “That is step one; we need to take care of business tomorrow. Play with the same confidence on the road.”

The Bruins next play on Sunday in the second game of a back-to-back against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.