Bruins Respond with Character Win Over Caps

BOSTON - The Bruins were keen on delivering a response.
Not just to the dud they put forth on Tuesday night in a lopsided setback to Carolina, but to the losses of fourth-line stalwart Anton Blidh and leading scorer Brad Marchand - both of whom were knocked out of Thursday's tilt against Washington after taking heavy hits.
Despite being down two of their four left wingers, the Black & Gold were not interested in suffering a second straight loss or allowing the Caps to bully them in their own barn.
Charlie McAvoy made sure of that.

With just 45 seconds to go in regulation, and the Bruins on the power play, Boston's ace blue liner creeped in from the point, took a Jake DeBrusk feed in the slot, and ripped a wrister over the blocker of Washington goalie Vitek Vanecek to lift the B's to a 4-3 win at TD Garden.
"I thought it was a resilient effort by us," said McAvoy, who played a game-high 24:35. "We showed good character. You go down two guys up front…I'm sure those guys are pretty tired by the end of it, but they gave their best all night and held the rope. It's always great to get two points."
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy believed his team would be ready to bounce back from its 7-1 drubbing at the hands of the Hurricanes after a strong, energetic practice on Wednesday morning at Warrior Ice Arena, a session that helped the Black & Gold quickly flush their worst loss of the season.
"I thought we were ready to play. Much more prepared than Tuesday night," said Cassidy. "Not surprised by the group being ready to go. I thought we had a good, efficient working practice [on Wednesday]. I talked about what we need to do. I thought we've played Washington well the past few years, so should be some confidence in the room to be able to do that.
"I was pleased. Start to finish, I thought we dug in, played hard. It was a physical game. I thought we were the better team. It took us a while to get to where we felt comfortable, and even then, we didn't with 40 seconds to go. But, clearly thought we played a very good hockey game tonight."

Boston overcame an early one-goal deficit in the first period, opening up a 2-1 lead on back-to-back tallies from David Pastrnak - one just 50 seconds after Washington kicked off the scoring at 4:07 of the first and the other on the power play at 8:37 of the second. The Bruins, however, twice surrendered one-goal leads before securing the victory on McAvoy's marker in the closing seconds.
"Today was a big character win for us coming off the game the other day," said Pastrnak, who secured his fourth multi-goal game in his last seven contests to give him 10 goals in the month of January. "It was a good opportunity for us to bounce back and that was our main focus.
"Washington is a really good team, and we knew it was gonna be a good challenge. For us, our main focus was to get back to work and obviously get back to the winning streak. It worked out today."

Marchand, Blidh Forced Out

The Bruins lost their leading scorer when Marchand exited the game in the second period with an upper-body injury following a questionable hit from Washington's Garnet Hathaway. Hathaway slammed Marchand from behind along the boards and was penalized two minutes for interference.
Marchand retreated slowly to the bench and received attention from the Bruins' medical staff. The winger tried to play through, returning briefly for a quick shift, before heading down the tunnel.
Cassidy, who did not have an update on Marchand's condition following the game, was not pleased with the hit.
"The March one I didn't like at all," said Cassidy. "The official right in front of it didn't call it. The trail official called it. I'm not sure why the guy watching it didn't - hit a guy in the numbers in a vulnerable spot. Seen that from that player in the past too, so I didn't like that one at all. I guess the league may or may not look at it. When it comes with Marchy sometimes they move in, but in this particular case it seemed like a vulnerable spot against the boards."
Blidh, meanwhile, exited with an upper-body injury of his own following a thunderous hit from Tom Wilson in the first period. The open-ice check was not penalized and after the game Cassidy called it a "just a hard hockey hit."
"He kind of came into the middle of the ice and saw him at the last minute," said Cassidy. "Listen, Wilson hits hard and we've seen that - some clean, others not clean. I didn't mind that hit…I thought he went for the chest, and thought he kept his elbows down. From my vantage point, I didn't see anything other than a hard hit - obviously wished Anton caught him coming into his view just a half a second early so he could protect himself."

DeBrusk Gets a Bump

With Marchand out, DeBrusk got the call to play alongside Patrice Bergeron and Craig Smith and did not look out of place. DeBrusk put the Bruins ahead, 3-2, at 9:41 of the third when he slithered down the left-wing boards and sent a shot toward the front of the net.
The attempt clanked off Washington's Evgeny Kuznetsov in front and just barely crossed the goal line. Play continued for several seconds before the off-ice officials sounded the horn and initiated a review that confirmed DeBrusk's sixth goal of the season - a tally that was initially awarded to Bergeron.
"Other guys got the opportunity to step up," said Cassidy. "And again, an opportunity for DeBrusk to get some extra minutes, and he came through for us…made some good plays in the third period, used his foot speed tonight to his advantage against a D corps that was susceptible at times.
"Good for him for making some plays in crunch time…I'm happy for Jake that he came through. Any time he can help the team win, that's a positive."
DeBrusk also delivered the primary helper to McAvoy on the winning goal. After taking a feed from Erik Haula (two assists) in the neutral zone, DeBrusk, once again, made his way down the left-wing boards before dishing one back into the slot to McAvoy, who finished it off with a wicked wrister blocker-side.
"He was flying tonight. He was all over the ice," said McAvoy. "He almost had a couple. I know he had one breakaway, but all night it seemed like he was really pushing the pace. When he has his legs, he's a very dangerous player.
"He was the fastest guy tonight on the ice, pretty much any given night. To seem him make that play to me, throw that one on net, good things happen. We're always cheering for him and when he pulls the rope we're a much better team."

McAvoy Sets the Tone

In addition to his winning goal, McAvoy also helped set the tone with a heavy check on Trevor van Riemsdyk in the first period, just moments after Wilson's hit forced Blidh to leave the game. The thunderous thump behind the Washington net was part of a monster 24-plus minute outing for the blue liner.
"He's a hell of a player," said Pastrnak. "He gets himself into games no matter if it's going right or not. I thought the first period the puck was bouncing on him a little bit and then he just made a hell of a hit there in the first. And then from that point on, he was just unbelievable.
"That's the thing, I think, he's become as a player. He gets himself into a game no matter if he has it that night, if he doesn't, he always finds it at some point. And, obviously, he got a great win for us today."
Cassidy also had high praise for McAvoy's stellar all-around effort.
"Both ends, right? He beared down late, worked hard to keep the puck out of our net," said Cassidy. "You've got to do that in this league; you've got to do that against that team. Gets a big goal on the power play, short shifted, came right back out there and then closes the deal. Obviously, a guy that rises up. We've seen it over the years here for a young guy.
"I mean, he's involved with the penalty kill as well. Solid player, plays in any situation. And nice to see him get rewarded offensively. That always gets noticed more than the defensive stuff, so I was happy for him.It was a good shot; it was a good play. It was a good entry all around and a nice finish. Under pressure, he executed, right? And in the big moments, and he typically does that."