Viktor Arvidsson’s breakaway goal in the third period snapped a 1-1 deadlock and lifted the Bruins to a 3-1 victory over the Capitals on Saturday afternoon at Boston’s TD Garden. Arvidsson got behind the Washington defense, catching a feed from Casey Mittelstadt at the Caps’ blueline and beating Logan Thompson on the stick side.
Washington was playing its first game since the trades that sent longtime Capitals Nic Dowd and John Carlson to Vegas and Anaheim, respectively, and it was facing the team in the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. With Saturday’s win, Boston now holds a six-point lead on the Caps for that spot.
“Give our guys credit,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “I thought we fought, I thought we stuck to the game plan for the most part, so you can’t fault that. And with what we’ve gone through as a group, our guys deserve a lot of credit.
“Now, with the way that the game goes, we’re right there. And I think that game is very much a microcosm of our season, and in a couple of respects. Special teams, 1-0 we lose that battle. Okay, they had more [power play] opportunities, but you still can find a way, and our penalty kill did a good job. So, this isn't a slight at either the power play or the penalty kill, it's just the facts of how the outcome comes.
“And then we're in that game. We get a big kill to start the third period, and we're just learning to stay with it. And that's the key, even though Boston is low event, nothing's happening, and the expected goals on both sides are basically nothing. It's a low event game, and in those games that are tight checking, there's not a lot of opportunities. You just have to stay with it, and if it goes 1-1 and goes to overtime, no big deal. You're comfortable in that scenario.
“But we just lose momentum there for a five-minute stretch [early in the third]. We just lack a little bit of discipline with our game. We start to turn some pucks over, start to get a little bit stubborn with some decisions, and it's a breakaway into the back of your net, you're down one, and you're chasing the game.”
Seeking his 22nd win of the season, Thompson was terrific in giving his team a chance to win. He stopped 27 of 29 shots and yielded two or fewer goals against for the fourth time in his last five starts (3-2-0).
“I felt good today,” says Thompson. “I’m just trying to give my team a chance every night, and I’m not going to quit. I’m going to keep working hard and get back to work these next couple of days and we’ve got another game at home.”
The Caps killed off a pair of Boston power play opportunities in what was a scoreless first period on Saturday. Washington had one man advantage in the first and two in the second, and it failed to score on all three.
Early in the second, Boston jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Pavel Zacha’s power-play goal. Thompson made the save on Zacha’s initial shot from in tight, just outside the paint ear the right post. But the veteran pivot stayed with it, and he batted the rebound home at 4:07 of the second.
Just over three minutes later, Jakob Chychrun was instrumental in manufacturing the equalizer for Washington. The talented Caps defenseman walked the Boston blueline to and fro, patiently looking for a lane or a seam with which to make a play. Eventually, he went wide right around a weary Boston defender and put a shot on net from close to the paint. Boston netminder Jeremy Swayman made the save, but Aliaksei Protas was on the spot to bury the rebound at 7:21.
The Caps had a pair of unsuccessful power plays in the second period, and they had to kill off three more Boston man advantages on the afternoon.
Shortly after snuffing out the last of Boston’s six power plays early in the third, Arvidsson scored to restore the Boston lead at 2-1 at 4:28 of the final frame.
Washington was unable to manage as much as a shot on Swayman for the first eight minutes of the third. Connor McMichael had perhaps the Caps’ best look at notching the tying tally in the third, but Swayman stopped his shot from the bottom of the right circle off a nice feed from Justin Sourdif from below the goal line.
Having to kill six penalties played a part in the Caps’ inability to establish and sustain a threatening presence in Boston ice in Saturday’s game.
“I think in the first we were getting through the neutral zone a little bit cleaner, obviously getting onto pucks more aggressive, more on our toes,” says Caps right wing Tom Wilson. “Getting pucks back; you’ve got to get pucks back before you can get moving in the [offensive] zone and get pucks to the net and stuff.
“So, I didn't think we really had much of an opportunity to turn pucks over in the second half of the game, and you're killing penalties and stuff, and playing in the [defensive] zone, and you're gassing yourself a little bit. And then maybe you don't have the jump late in the game to try and come from behind. Those tight knit games, you’ve got to be really smart. And you know there's a lot of special teams. Our power play needs to get us one, obviously.
“And other than that, the effort was there. We just couldn't get any [offensive] zone time in the third.”
